HARRISBURG (TNS) — Thanks to budget dysfunction in the state Capitol, people filing divorces, estates and many other legal actions across Pennsylvania are getting a financial break while courts lose millions of dollars.
Authorization under state law for a pair of surcharges totaling $21.25 that the court system usually collects on many types of filings expired on July 31. While lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro have put in place much of the state budget, a laundry list of legislative items remains undone. One is approving language that reauthorizes surcharges that help fund the state’s Unified Judicial System.
The lost revenue amounts to about $3.7 million a month for the court system.
On the flip side, though, the same amount of money is being saved by people who usually pay the surcharges. The affected list of filings includes divorces, estates, civil suits, protection from abuse orders, guardianships, custody proceedings and adoptions, to name a few.
In the Butler County Register of Wills office, it’s lawyers who are paying more than 80% of the time, according to Register of Wills Sarah Edwards. The biggest inconvenience, she said, typically is that people who were familiar with the total cost of a filing have been surprised by the reduction and “have had to go back and make out a new check.”
In the office of Washington County Prothonotary Laura Hough, though, there is a sense that a wide range of people are saving a little bit of money.
“There are a lot of people who file things pro se,” Ms. Hough said. “Whether the lawyers are passing those savings along to their clients, I can’t say, but the ones who are filing pro se are definitely saving.” She added, “Everybody needs the extra penny these days.”
State law says the surcharges are used to adequately fund the Unified Judicial System, which includes more than 500 magisterial district judge’s offices, county courts, municipal courts, and appellate courts, as well as the state Supreme Court. The system dockets millions of cases each year.
Last year and in some earlier years, the fees were reauthorized with a budget-associated bill known as the “fiscal code.” This year, even though Mr. Shapiro has signed into law a $45.45 billion spending bill, a number of high-profile line items within it require additional language in a code bill. Those include money for criminal indigent defense, a program that doles out grants for home repairs and another that gives money to the state’s most financially strapped school districts.
Partisan disagreements involving Republicans who control the Senate, Democrats who run the House and Mr. Shapiro have prevented such a bill from reaching the governor’s desk.
A spokesperson for the state court system, Kim Bathgate, said, “Court administration has had productive conversations with legislative leaders in both chambers and in both caucuses on the necessity of reauthorizing the fees given they represent a significant portion of the judicial budget.”
By law, the fees — when authorized — go into the “Judicial Department Operations Augmentation Account.” Money from the account is appropriated to the Supreme Court for court operations.
The last time the $21.25 in fees were reauthorized was July 11, 2022, when then-Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law that year’s fiscal code bill. It included language that kept them in place until July 31, 2023.
Last week, the Republican-controlled Senate returned to Harrisburg for an unusual late August voting session and approved a fiscal code bill that included the two surcharges. The vote was 29-18, with Democratic Sens. Lisa Boscola of Northampton County and Anthony Williams of Philadelphia joining all Republicans in favor.
Democrats who run the House reacted negatively. A statement issued on behalf of Democratic leaders said they have been trying to work toward an agreement, but Senate Republicans actions — including the passage of the bill with the surcharges — “do not advance the conversation toward finalizing the state’s budget in its entirety.”
Voting totals in the House have been tied at 101 since the July 19 resignation of Rep. Sara Innamorato, D-Lawrenceville. A special election has been scheduled for later this month to fill her seat in the heavily Democratic, Pittsburgh-based district. Meanwhile, Democrats run the chamber based on their earlier majority, and it will not be in session until Sept. 26.
A spokesperson for House Democrats, Beth Rementer, said it was expected the surcharges would be in a fiscal code bill to be passed by the House. “They will be reauthorized this fall,” Ms. Rementer said.
Rep. Seth Grove, R-York and Republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said the surcharges do not necessarily have to be renewed via the fiscal code. In some years, he said, they have been approved in other types of code bills — indicating a chance for another avenue if the Senate-approved fiscal code bill cannot be passed by the House.
Mr. Grove said the spending bill signed by Mr. Shapiro gave the court system a 9%, or $32 million, budget increase for fiscal 2024. He said it should have sufficient money for operations until the surcharges are reauthorized.
In the meantime, many of those who interact with the court system will be paying a little less.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a crisis,” said David Blaner, executive director of the Allegheny County Bar Association.
Maureen Kroll, president of the Westmoreland Bar Association, said the fact it is “21 bucks” has produced a limited impact.
She added, “But in the bigger picture, that is a lot of money to miss collecting.”
