1.This Act may be cited as the
Federal Judicial Salary Restoration
Act of 2007
.
2.Restoration of
Compensation
(a)Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, the annual rate of salary of—
(1)the judges of the
district courts, as established under section 132 of title 28, United States
Code, shall be adjusted to $247,800;
(2)the judges of the
Court of International Trade, as established under section 251 of title 28,
United States Code, shall be adjusted to $247,800;
(3)the judges of the
courts of appeals, as established under section 44 of title 28, United States
Code, shall be adjusted to $262,700;
(4)the Associate
Justices of the Supreme Court, as described under section 1 of title 28, United
States Code, shall be adjusted to $304,500; and
(5)the Chief Justice
of the United States, as described under section 1 of title 28, United States
Code, shall be adjusted to $318,200.
(b)This section shall take effect on the first applicable pay
period beginning on or after the date of enactment of this Act.
3.If a pay adjustment under
section 2 is to be made for an office or position as of the same date that any
other pay adjustment would take effect for such office or position, the
adjustment under this Act shall be made first.
4.Authorization of
appropriationsThere are
authorized to be appropriated such sums as necessary to carry out this
Act.
1.This Act may be cited as the
Federal Judicial Salary Restoration
Act of 2008
.
2.Restoration of
compensation
(a)Effective the first
applicable pay period beginning on or after the date of enactment of this Act,
the salaries of the following categories of Federal judicial officers shall be
as follows:
(1)The judges of the United
States district courts appointed under section 133(a) of title 28, United
States Code, shall be adjusted to $218,000.
(2)The judges of the United
States Court of International Trade appointed under section 251(a) of title 28,
United States Code, shall be adjusted to $218,000.
(3)The judges of the United
States courts of appeals appointed under section 44(a) of title 28, United
States Code, shall be adjusted to $231,100.
(4)The associate justices of
the United States Supreme Court provided for in section 1 of title 28, United
States Code, shall be adjusted to $267,900.
(5)The Chief Justice of the
United States provided for in section 1 of title 28, United States Code, shall
be adjusted to $279,900.
(b)If a pay adjustment
under subsection (a) is to be made for an office as of the same date that any
other pay adjustment would take effect for such office, the adjustment under
subsection (a) shall be made first.
3.Repeal of prohibition on
salary increasesSection 140
of Public Law 97–92, as amended by Public Law 107–77 (28 U.S.C. 461 note), is
repealed.
4.
(a)Retirement from the
officeSection 371 of title
28, United States Code, is amended—
(1)in subsection (a), by
striking subsection (c)
and inserting subsection
(c)(1)
;
(2)in subsection (b)(1), by
striking subsection (c)
and inserting subsection
(c)(2)
; and
(3)by amending subsection
(c) to read as follows:
(c)Age and service
requirements
(1)The age and service requirements for retirement under
subsection (a) are as follows:
Attained Age:Years of
Service:
6717
6816
6915
7014
7113
7212
(2)Retirement in senior
statusThe age and service requirements for retirement under
subsection (b) are as follows:
Attained Age:Years of
Service:
6515
6614
6713
6812
6911
7010
.
(b)Election of retirement
for sitting judgesAny justice or judge of the United States who
is in active service on the date of the enactment of this Act may elect to
retire under section 371(a) of title 28, United States Code—
(1)on the basis of the age
and service requirements under section 371(c)(1) of title 28, United States
Code, as amended by subsection (a) of this section, or
(2)on the basis of the age and service
requirements under section 371(c) of title 28, United States Code, as in effect
on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act,
except that the annuity of a justice or
judge who makes the election under paragraph (2) shall be equal to the salary
such justice or judge was receiving on the day before the date of the enactment
of this Act.(c)Workload of senior
judgesSection 371(e)(1) of title 28, United States code, is
amended—
(1)in subparagraphs (A) and
(B), by striking three months
and inserting 4
months
; and
(2)in subparagraph (C), by
striking 3 months
and inserting 4 months
.
5.Annual salary
adjustmentsSection 461(a) of
title 28, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a)Effective at the beginning of the first
applicable pay period commencing on or after the first day of the month in
which an adjustment takes effect under section 5303 of title 5 in the rates of
pay under the General Schedule (except as provided in subsection (b)), each
salary rate which is subject to adjustment under this section shall be adjusted
by an amount, rounded to the nearest multiple of $100 (or, if midway between
multiples of $100, to the next higher multiple of $100) equal to the percentage
of such salary rate which corresponds to the percentage of the adjustment
taking effect under such section 5303 in the rates of pay under the General
Schedule.
.
6.Income Limitation on
retirement annuity
(a)Beginning in
calendar year 2009, the amount of the annuity in a calendar year of a justice
or judge of the United States who retires under section 371(a) of title 28,
United States Code, shall be reduced by the amount of any earned income of such
justice or judge in such calendar year that exceeds the amount of the salary
the justice or judge was receiving at the time of retirement, as
follows:
(1)For every $2 in excess of
such salary, the annuity shall be reduced by $1, except that the reduction in
the annuity in a calendar year as a result of such excess earned income may not
exceed 67 percent of the amount of such annuity.
(2)The reductions made under
paragraph (1) in a calendar year expire at the end of that calendar
year.
(b)Subsection
(a) shall not apply to any individual who has retired under section 371(a) of
title 28, United States Code, before the date of the enactment of this
Act.
7.Limitation on acceptance
of honorary memberships
(a)In
this section:
(1)The
term gift has the meaning given under section 109(5) of the Ethics
in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.), except subparagraphs (A) through (F)
of that paragraph shall not apply.
(2)The term judicial officer has the meaning
given under section 109(10) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C.
App.).
(b)Prohibition on
acceptance of honorary membershipsA judicial officer may not
accept a gift of an honorary membership with a value of more than $50 in any
calendar year.
8.Judicial travel
reporting requirements
(a)
(1)In
this subsection, the term judicial officer has the meaning given
under section 109(10) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C.
App.).
(2)In addition to the contents of reports required under
section 102(a)(2)(B) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.),
each judicial officer shall include—
(A)a disclosure and
itemization of the value of payments and reimbursements received for
transportation, lodging, meals, and any other subsistence expenses;
(B)a disclosure of any
expenses paid or reimbursed for an accompanying spouse or dependent child;
and
(C)a description of all
meetings and events attended during travel.
(b)Section 105 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978
(5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
(e)Notwithstanding
subsection (b)(2), the Judicial Conference and the Director of the
Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall make each report filed
by a judicial officer under this Act (other than a report filed under section
107) available on the website of the Administrative Office of the United States
Courts.
.
9.Application of Ethics
Regulations to the Supreme Court
(a)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 the Regulations of the Judicial Conference of the United States
Under Title III of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 Concerning Gifts shall apply
to the Chief Justice of the United States, Associate Justices of the Supreme
Court of the United States, and officers and employees of the Supreme Court of
the United States.
(b)Not
later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Judicial
Conference shall conduct a thorough review of the regulations described under
subsection (a).
10.
(a)A Federal judge or justice shall not—
(1)accept, in connection
with a single trip or event, travel, food, lodging, reimbursement, outside
earned income, or anything that would be considered a gift under the
Regulations of the Judicial Conference of the United States Under Title III of
the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 Concerning Gifts, valued at greater than $2,000,
from a source other than—
(A)the Federal Government or
a State or local government (other than a public educational institution);
or
(B)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; and
(2)accept travel, food,
lodging, reimbursement, outside earned income, or anything that would be
considered a gift under the Regulations of the Judicial Conference of the
United States Under Title III of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 Concerning
Gifts, in connection with attending, as a speaker or participant, a program, a
significant purpose of which is the education of United States Federal or state
judges, from a source other than—
(A)the Federal Government or
a State or local government (other than a public educational institution);
or
(B)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.
(b)Subsection
(a)(1) shall not apply to 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.
(c)
(1)The total value of all travel, gifts, and other things
regulated in subsection (a)(1) that are accepted by a Federal judge or justice
within a single year shall not exceed $20,000.
(2)The
amounts referenced in paragraph (1) and subsection (a)(1) shall be adjusted by
the 12-month percentage increase (if any) in the Consumer Price Index for All
Urban Consumers (or a successor index if any) based on the immediately
preceding 12 months for which data is available.
11.United States Court of
Federal Claims accountabilitySection 476 of title 28, United States Code,
is amended by adding at the end the following:
(c)In this section, the term
judicial officer includes active and senior judges of the United
States Court of Federal
Claims.
.
12.
(a)Section 330(b)(2) of title 11, United
States Code, is amended, in the undesignated matter following subparagraph (B),
by striking $15
in each place it appears and inserting
$75
.
(b)No additional fees or
costs for individual debtorsNo additional fee or cost charged to
individual debtors or their attorneys shall be assessed to directly or
indirectly provide funding for any of the $60 increase in trustee payments
provided for by the amendments made under subsection (a).
(c)Effective date and
Application
(1)This section shall take effect 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act.
(2)The
amendments made by this section shall not apply with respect to cases commenced
under title 11, United States Code, before the effective date of this
section.
13.If any provision of this Act or an amendment
made by this Act, or the application of such a provision to any person or
circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act and the
amendments made by this Act, and the application of this Act and such
amendments to any other person or circumstance, shall not be affected by such
holding.
14.Authorization of
appropriationsThere are
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this
Act.
15.This Act and the
amendments and the repeal made by this Act take effect on the date of the
enactment of this Act.
March 10, 2008
Reported with an amendment