S 1638 · 110th Congress 2007–2009, ended

Federal Judicial Salary Restoration Act of 2008

Latest action · Apr 7, 2008 Star Print ordered on the written report (110-277).

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedJun 15, 2007
  2. Passed SenateNot reached
  3. Passed HouseNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Federal Judicial Salary Restoration Act of 2008 - (Sec. 2) Increases the salaries of: (1) judges of U.S. District courts; (2) judges of the U.S. Court of International Trade; (3) judges of the U.S. courts of appeals; (4) associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court; and (5) the Chief Justice of the United States.

(Sec. 3) Repeals the prohibition on judiciary salary increases.

(Sec. 4) Amends the federal judicial code to increase from 80 to 84 the sum of age and years of service a federal judge or justice must meet to retire on salary. (Retains the current age and years of service sum of 80 where the judge or justice retains the office but retires from regular active service.)

Increases the workload-equivalent requirement from three to four months for senior judges to have met in order to retire and retain their salary.

(Sec. 5) Revises requirements for annual salary adjustments.

(Sec. 6) Requires an earned income-related reduction, according to a specified formula, in the retirement annuities of justices or judges.

(Sec. 7) Prohibits a judicial officer from accepting a gift of an honorary membership with a value of more than $50 in any calendar year.

(Sec. 8) Requires judicial officers to make certain disclosures with respect to travel..

Amends the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to require each report by a judicial officer under such Act to be publicly available.

(Sec. 9) Applies to the U.S. Supreme Court the Regulations of the Judicial Conference of the United States Under Title VI of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 Concerning Outside Earned Income, Honoraria, and Outside Employment and under Title III of the Act Concerning Gifts.

(Sec. 10) Prohibits a federal judge or justice from accepting any single trip or gift, including outside earned income, valued at more than $2,000, except from: (1) the federal government or a state or local government (other than a public educational institution); or (2) a federal, state, or local bar association, a subject-matter bar association, a judicial association, the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association, or the National Judicial College.

Prohibits a federal judge or justice from accepting any travel, food, lodging, reimbursement, outside earned income, or anything that would be considered a gift under such Regulations in connection with attending, as a speaker or participant, a program, a significant purpose of which is the education of U.S. federal or state judges, except from the same sources.

Exempts from these prohibitions any trip approved by the Department of State to promote the rule of law or developing legal systems in foreign countries, if the reimbursement for that trip is provided only for travel, meals, and lodging expenses.

Sets the maximum aggregate value of all travel, gifts, and other regulated things accepted by a federal judge or justice within a single year at $20,000, adjusted annually for inflation.

(Sec. 11) Extends to active and senior judges of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims coverage of the semiannual report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts on: (1) the number of motions pending for over six months (and the names of related cases); (2) the number of bench trials submitted for over six months (and the names of the cases involved); and (3) the number and names of cases that have not been terminated within three years after filing.

(Sec. 12) Increases from $15 to $75 the fee paid by the Judicial Conference of the United States to bankruptcy trustees serving on cases.

Declares that no additional fee or cost charged to individual debtors or their attorneys shall be assessed to provide funding, directly or indirectly, for any of the $60 increase in such trustee payments.

(Sec. 14) Authorizes appropriations.

Cosponsors 28

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 15, 2007 to Jul 31, 2008; 5 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-CADianne FeinsteinOriginalJun 15, 2007
D-NVHarry ReidOriginalJun 15, 2007
R-SCLindsey GrahamOriginalJun 15, 2007
R-KYMitch McConnellOriginalJun 15, 2007
R-UTOrrin G. HatchOriginalJun 15, 2007
D-MAEdward M. KennedyJun 19, 2007
D-NMJeff BingamanJul 11, 2007
D-WAMaria CantwellAug 3, 2007
D-MAJohn F. KerrySep 4, 2007
R-UTRobert F. BennettSep 6, 2007
I-CTJoseph I. LiebermanSep 10, 2007
R-NMPete V. DomeniciSep 11, 2007
D-NJFrank R. LautenbergSep 17, 2007
R-VAJohn WarnerSep 18, 2007
R-MEOlympia J. SnoweSep 24, 2007
D-HIDaniel K. InouyeSep 28, 2007
R-ORGordon H. SmithOct 18, 2007
D-LAMary L. LandrieuNov 5, 2007
R-TNBob CorkerNov 7, 2007
D-ARMark L. PryorNov 7, 2007
R-GASaxby ChamblissApr 9, 2008
D-WAPatty MurrayApr 14, 2008
R-GAJohnny IsaksonApr 15, 2008
R-LADavid VitterMay 6, 2008
R-INRichard G. LugarJul 16, 2008
D-NJRobert MenendezJul 21, 2008
D-HIDaniel K. AkakaJul 24, 2008
R-NCElizabeth DoleJul 31, 2008

Committees 1

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

ChamberCommitteeWhat it did
SenateJudiciary Committee
Referred Jun 15, 2007Markup Jan 31, 2008Reported Mar 10, 2008

Actions 8

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Apr 7, 2008Star Print ordered on the written report (110-277).
  2. Apr 1, 2008By Senator Leahy from Committee on the Judiciary filed written report. Report No. 110-277.
  3. Mar 10, 2008Committee on the Judiciary. Reported by Senator Leahy with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.
  4. Mar 10, 2008Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 614.
  5. Jan 31, 2008Committee on the Judiciary. Ordered to be reported with amendments favorably.

In the Congressional Record 2

Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.

WhereIn the RecordMembersDate
SenateText printed S2294—Apr 1, 2008
SenateDebate and remarks S7793Patrick J. Leahy D-VTJun 15, 2007

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Committee report

Congressional Budget Office cost estimates 2

  1. Mar 28, 2008S. 1638, Federal Judicial Salary Restoration Act of 2008<p>Cost estimate for the bill as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on January 31, 2008</p>
  2. Mar 28, 2008S. 1638, Federal Judicial Salary Restoration Act of 2008Cost estimate for the bill as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on January 31, 2008

Printed hearings 1

Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.

NumberHearingCommitteeHeld
Serial No. 110-207BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE COMPENSATION46 pagesJudiciary CommitteeSep 16, 2008

CRS reports 6

Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.

Cite it 6

Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.

Related bills 1

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

BillTitleRelationshipLatest action
HR 3753Federal Judicial Salary Restoration Act of 2007Related billDec 12, 2007

Titles 3

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced
A bill to adjust the salaries of Federal justices and judges, and for other purposes.
Short Titles as Introduced
Federal Judicial Salary Restoration Act of 2007
Short Titles as Reported to Senate
Federal Judicial Salary Restoration Act of 2008

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Law.

Text 2

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Mar 10, 2008Reported to Senate
  2. Jun 15, 2007Introduced in Senate

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.