H-1254

   Amend Senate File 616, as passed by the Senate, as follows:
   1.  By striking everything after the enacting clause and inserting: 
<DIVISION I
FY 2019-2020 APPROPRIATIONS

   Section 1.  JUDICIAL BRANCH.
   1.  There is appropriated from the general fund of the state to the judicial branch for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2020, the following amounts, or so much thereof as is necessary, to be used for the purposes designated:
   a.  For salaries of supreme court justices, appellate court judges, district court judges, district associate judges, associate juvenile judges, associate probate judges, judicial magistrates and staff, state court administrator, clerk of the supreme court, district court administrators, clerks of the district court, juvenile court officers, board of law examiners and board of examiners of shorthand reporters and judicial qualifications commission; receipt and disbursement of child support payments; reimbursement of the auditor of state for expenses incurred in completing audits of the offices of the clerks of the district court during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019; and maintenance, equipment, and miscellaneous purposes:
   ...................................................................... $182,390,991

   b.  For deposit in the revolving fund created pursuant to section 602.1302, subsection 3, for jury and witness fees, mileage, costs related to summoning jurors, costs and fees for interpreters and translators, and reimbursement of attorney fees paid by the state public defender:
   ...................................................................... $  3,100,000

   2.  The judicial branch, except for purposes of internal processing, shall use the current state budget system, the state payroll system, and the Iowa finance and accounting system in administration of programs and payments for services, and shall not duplicate the state payroll, accounting, and budgeting systems.
   3.  The judicial branch shall submit monthly financial statements to the legislative services agency and the department of management containing all appropriated accounts in the same manner as provided in the monthly financial status reports and personal services usage reports of the department of administrative services. The monthly financial statements shall include a comparison of the dollars and percentage spent of budgeted versus actual revenues and expenditures on a cumulative basis for full-time equivalent positions and dollars.
   4.  The judicial branch shall focus efforts upon the collection of delinquent fines, penalties, court costs, fees, surcharges, or similar amounts.
   5.  It is the intent of the general assembly that the offices of the clerks of the district court operate in all 99 counties and be accessible to the public as much as is reasonably possible in order to address the relative needs of the citizens of each county.
   6.  In addition to the requirements for transfers under section 8.39, the judicial branch shall not change the appropriations from the amounts appropriated to the judicial branch in this division of this Act, unless notice of the revisions is given to the legislative services agency prior to the effective date. The notice shall include information on the branch’s rationale for making the changes and details concerning the workload and performance measures upon which the changes are based.
   7.  The judicial branch shall submit a semiannual update to the legislative services agency specifying the amounts of fines, surcharges, and court costs collected using the Iowa court information system since the last report. The judicial branch shall continue to facilitate the sharing of vital sentencing and other information with other state departments and governmental agencies involved in the criminal justice system through the Iowa court information system.
   8.  The judicial branch shall provide a report to the general assembly by January 1, 2020, concerning the amounts received and expended from the enhanced court collections fund created in section 602.1304 and the court technology and modernization fund created in section 602.8108, subsection 9, during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2018, and ending June 30, 2019, and the plans for expenditures from each fund during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2020. A copy of the report shall be provided to the legislative services agency.
   Sec. 2.  CIVIL TRIALS —— LOCATION.  Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2020, if all parties in a case agree, a civil trial including a jury trial may take place in a county contiguous to the county with proper jurisdiction, even if the contiguous county is located in an adjacent judicial district or judicial election district. If the trial is moved pursuant to this section, court personnel shall treat the case as if a change of venue occurred. However, if a trial is moved to an adjacent judicial district or judicial election district, the judicial officers serving in the judicial district or judicial election district receiving the case shall preside over the case.
   Sec. 3.  TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT.  Notwithstanding section 602.1509, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2020, a judicial officer may waive travel reimbursement for any travel outside the judicial officer’s county of residence to conduct official judicial business.
   Sec. 4.  JUDICIAL OFFICER —— UNPAID LEAVE.  Notwithstanding the annual salary rates for judicial officers established by 2013 Iowa Acts, chapter 140, section 40, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2020, the supreme court may by order place all judicial officers on unpaid leave status on any day employees of the judicial branch are placed on temporary layoff status. The biweekly pay of the judicial officers shall be reduced accordingly for the pay period in which the unpaid leave date occurred in the same manner as for noncontract employees of the judicial branch. Through the course of the fiscal year, the judicial branch may use an amount equal to the aggregate amount of salary reductions due to the judicial officer unpaid leave days for any purpose other than for judicial salaries.
   Sec. 5.  IOWA COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK.  It is the intent of the general assembly that the judicial branch utilize the Iowa communications network or other secure electronic communications in lieu of traveling for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2020.
DIVISION II
JUDICIAL SALARIES 

   Sec. 6.  Section 602.1501, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   602.1501  Judicial salaries.
   1.  a.  The following persons shall receive the salary set by the general assembly:
   (1)  The chief justice and each justice of the supreme court shall receive the salary set by the general assembly.
   2.  (2)  The chief judge and each judge of the court of appeals shall receive the salary set by the general assembly.
   3.  (3)  The chief judge of each judicial district and each district judge shall receive the salary set by the general assembly.
   4.  (4)  District associate judges shall receive the salary set by the general assembly.
   5.  (5)  Full-time associate juvenile judges and full-time associate probate judges shall receive the salary set by the general assembly.
   6.  b.  Magistrates Subject to section 602.6402, magistrates  shall receive the salary set by the general assembly, subject to section 602.6402.
   2.  For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2020, and each subsequent fiscal year, the supreme court may increase the annual salary rates set pursuant to subsection 1 by an amount not to exceed two percent of the salary rate established for each judicial position in subsection 1. Persons receiving salary rate adjustments under this section shall not receive any additional salary adjustment other than those provided by this subsection, unless authorized by the general assembly.
DIVISION III
LEARNING CENTER MUSEUM

   Sec. 7.  NEW SECTION.  602.1615  Learning center museum corporation.
   1.  The judicial branch may establish the learning center museum corporation as a nonprofit corporation organized under chapter 504 and qualifying under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as an organization exempt from taxation. Unless otherwise provided in this section, this corporation is subject to the provisions of chapter 504. The corporation shall be established for the purpose of soliciting funds and accepting donations, gifts, and bequests and disbursing those funds for an interactive museum of legal history within the judicial branch building.
   2.  If the learning center museum corporation is established in subsection 1, the corporation shall collaborate with the judicial branch as described in this section, but the corporation shall not be considered, in whole or in part, an agency, department, or administrative unit of the state.
   a.  The corporation shall not receive appropriations from the state.
   b.  The corporation shall not be required to reimburse the state for the cost of utilities consumed operating the learning center museum in the judicial branch building.
   c.  The corporation shall not be required to comply with any requirements that apply to a state agency, department, or administrative unit and shall not exercise any sovereign power of the state.
   d.  The corporation does not have authority to pledge the credit of the state, and the state shall not be liable for the debts or obligations of the corporation. All debts and obligations of the corporation shall be payable solely from the corporation’s funds.
   3.  If the learning center museum corporation is established in subsection 1, the corporation shall be established so that donations and bequests to it qualify as tax deductible under state income tax laws and under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
   4.  If the learning center museum corporation is established in subsection 1, the articles of the corporation shall provide for its governance and its efficient management. In providing for its governance, the articles of the corporation shall address the following:
   a.  A board of directors to govern the corporation.
   (1)  The board of directors shall initially be comprised of seven members appointed by the chief justice to concurrent terms of four years. Two of such members shall be subject to confirmation by the senate.
   (2)  For appointments subsequent to the initial appointments pursuant to subparagraph (1), two of the members shall be appointed by the chief justice, subject to confirmation by the senate, to staggered terms of four years each, and the remaining five members shall be selected by a majority vote of the board of directors of the corporation for terms the length of which shall be provided in the articles of the corporation.
   (3)  The chief justice and the board of directors of the corporation shall not appoint or select any person who is either the spouse or a relative within the first degree of consanguinity of a serving member of the board of directors or of the supreme court.
   b.  The appointment of a chief executive officer by the board to manage the corporation’s daily operations.
   c.  The delegation of such powers and responsibilities to the chief executive officer as may be necessary for the corporation’s efficient operation.
   d.  The employment of personnel necessary for the efficient performance of the duties assigned to the corporation. All such personnel shall be considered employees of a private, nonprofit corporation and shall be exempt from the personnel requirements imposed on state agencies, departments, and administrative units.
   e.  The financial operations of the corporation including the authority to receive and expend funds from public and private sources and to use its property, money, or other resources for the purpose of the corporation.
   5.  If the learning center museum is established, the board of directors of the corporation and the chief executive officer shall act to ensure all of the following:
   a.  That the corporation reviews and, at the board’s direction, implements the applicable portions of the strategic plan developed by the judicial branch.
   b.  That the corporation prepares an annual budget that includes funding levels for the corporation’s activities and that shows sufficient moneys are available to support those activities.
   c.  That the corporation annually completes and files an information return as described in section 422.15 and that the information return is submitted to the general assembly.>

______________________________
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

GRASSLEY of Butler, Chairperson