[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4946 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4946

 To provide for the orderly termination of the United States Court of 
                Federal Claims, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 22, 2004

   Mr. Hefley (for himself, Mr. Garrett of New Jersey, Mr. Udall of 
     Colorado, Mr. Miller of Florida, Mr. Goode, and Mr. Tancredo) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the orderly termination of the United States Court of 
                Federal Claims, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States Court of Federal 
Claims Termination Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) a fair and efficient Federal judiciary is a bedrock of 
        the Nation's democracy;
            (2) at a time of rising deficits and shrinking budgets, it 
        is imperative that Federal judiciary resources be used wisely;
            (3) the United States Court of Federal Claims operates 
        inefficiently;
            (4) in calendar year 2002, on average, judges of the Court 
        of Federal Claims conducted only 1.5 trials and spent less than 
        66 hours in a courtroom;
            (5) between calendar years 1997 and 2001, on average, Court 
        of Federal Claims judges had 45 cases on their docket each 
        year;
            (6) by contrast, during the same period, Federal district 
        court judges had 478 cases on their dockets each year;
            (7) a comprehensive study by a respected legal scholar 
        concluded that the caseload of the Court of Federal Claims 
        could be handled more efficiently by Federal district courts;
            (8) transferring the caseload of the Court of Federal 
        Claims to the Federal district courts would add less than 1 
        case each year to each Federal district judgeship;
            (9) there is no evidence that Federal district courts are 
        incapable of handling the caseload of the Court of Federal 
        Claims;
            (10) it is estimated that the budget for fiscal year 2004 
        for the Court of Federal Claims is $14,400,000; and
            (11) elimination of the Court of Federal Claims will lead 
        to a significant savings of taxpayer dollars, especially over 
        the long term.

SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS.

    (a) Filing of Claims.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
no claim may be filed in the United States Court of Federal Claims on 
or after the date of enactment of this Act.
    (b) Pending Claims.--Not later than 60 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Chief Justice of the United States shall 
promulgate regulations to carry out an orderly transfer of all claims 
pending before the United States Court of Federal Claims to appropriate 
courts of the United States. Such transfers shall be completed during 
the 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act. 
Regulations under this subsection may provide for some claims to 
proceed in the United States Court of Federal Claims during that 1-year 
period. A congressional reference case for which a report is not 
transmitted to the appropriate House of Congress before the end of that 
1-year period shall not be transferred and shall terminate.
    (c) Termination.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
United States Court of Federal Claims is terminated effective on and 
after the date occurring 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
Act.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Director of the Administrative Office of United States 
Courts shall submit a report to Congress containing recommendations for 
legislation to carry out this Act, including recommendations for 
conforming amendments to Federal law.
                                 <all>