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DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Judge Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: No, we certain-
ly intend that the General Assembly can-
not reduce the budget of the judiciary, nor
reduce the budget of the General Assembly
as that budget is provided by law. They
could reduce our judicial system out of
existence. They could just provide a dollar
for all judges and nothing for anything
else. You would have no judicial system.
I think we have to get back into the style
committee again and clarify it, either by
a semi-colon, or separate that from the
rest.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Willoner.
DELEGATE WILLONER: Then I was
correct earlier in assuming that once the
chief judicial official, or whoever, proposes
the budget, and once that budget goes to
General Assembly, it cannot be changed in
any way by the General Assembly except
for being1 increased ?
DELEGATE SHERBOW: Not if it is a
budget that is not as provided by law. The
judicial officer cannot just pick out of a hat
8100,000 for some items and put that into
the judicial budget, no. It is a budget which
is as provided by our law. It includes the
salaries and it will include such other things
as will be either in the transitory provi-
sions or in the law relating to our judicial
system. But he could not put in there, for
example, $100,000 to make a study to find
out in the future what we can do to take
care of some situation that some people
may think is a good idea to study. This
is not what is contemplated at all.
It is for our judicial system as provided
by law.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Willoner.
DELEGATE WILLONER: I am not sure
this question applies to your section or to
the judicial section, but under the rule-
making power, would I assume it is a pro-
cedural matter to establish filing fees and
matters such as that, costs for a proceeding
in, well, jury courts, things like that?
Would those costs be returned to the gen-
eral funds of the State, or would they be
within the judiciary itself to expend as it
saw fit?
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Judge Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: I do not know,
because in the statutory language, and the
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language that will carry us over, two
things happen. First, you pay out money
for your judicial system. Secondly, you col-
lect money from fines and from other re-
ceipts relating to the judicial system.
1 assume in the provisions, statutory or
transitory, some relationship between them
will be struck so as to provide that, since
the State is paying for the judicial system,
what comes in the State will get.
As to those details, I am not cognizant of
what the Committee on the Judicial Branch
intends to do.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Willoner.
DELEGATE WILLONER: That is all.
Thank you.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Grant.
DELEGATE GRANT: Continuing along
the same line of questioning there is some
indication the judicial system may eventu-
ally include the Department of Correction
and other services like that.
Would it be within the contemplation of
your Committee that if the judiciary de-
cided they needed a new penitentiary, or
new incarceration facility or new court
house or new court room, et cetera, they
could be included as line items in the budget
submitted by the judiciary which could not
be changed by the General Assembly; or
would they have to be first previously au-
thorized by law and then the amount set by
the judiciary ?
DELEGATE SHKRBOW: They would
have to be first authorized by law.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Grant.
DELEGATE GRANT: Then carry ing that
analogy back, could the General Assembly
by law seek to destroy the judiciary sys-
tem by repealing and, in other words, cut-
ting their functions down, first by law, and
then, since there would be no law to sup-
port the judicial action, the effect would be
achieved that you said could not be achieved
by the General Assembly, namely, destroy-
ing the judiciary?
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding):
Delegate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: That could not
be done, because the maintenance of the
courts is established by the constitution.
You can talk about matters that move out
from the courts themselves. If the legisla-
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