Bill Text: MS HB245 | 2013 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Court reporters; shall receive personal and major medical leave.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2013-03-05 - Died In Committee [HB245 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2013-HB245-Engrossed.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2013 Regular Session
To: Judiciary A; Appropriations
By: Representative Baker
House Bill 245
(As Passed the House)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 9-13-19, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT COURT REPORTERS FOR CIRCUIT AND CHANCERY COURTS SHALL SHALL ACCRUE AND RECEIVE PERSONAL LEAVE AND MAJOR MEDICAL LEAVE THE SAME AS OTHER STATE EMPLOYEES DO; TO PROVIDE THAT ALL LAWFULLY CREDITED UNUSED PERSONAL AND MAJOR MEDICAL LEAVE OF THOSE COURT REPORTERS SHALL BE REPORTED AND CREDITED FOR RETIREMENT PURPOSES; TO AMEND SECTIONS 9-13-15 AND 9-13-17, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PRECEDING PROVISIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 9-13-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
9-13-19. (1) Court reporters for circuit and chancery courts shall be paid an annual salary payable by the Administrative Office of Courts not to exceed Forty Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($40,500.00) for court reporters with five (5) years experience or less; not to exceed Forty-three Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($43,500.00) for court reporters who have more than five (5) years experience but less than ten (10) years; and not to exceed Forty-six Thousand Dollars ($46,000.00) for court reporters who have ten (10) years or more experience. In addition, any court reporter performing the duties of a court administrator in the same judicial district in which the person is employed as a court reporter may be paid additional compensation for performing the court administrator duties. The annual amount of the additional compensation shall be set by vote of the judges and chancellors for whom the court administrator duties are performed, with consideration given to the number of hours per month devoted by the court reporter to performing the duties of a court administrator. The additional compensation shall be submitted to the Administrative Office of Courts for approval.
(2) The several counties in each respective court district shall transfer from the general funds of those county treasuries to the Administrative Office of Courts a proportionate amount to be paid toward the annual compensation of the court reporter, including any additional compensation paid for the performance of court administrator duties. The amount to be paid by each county shall be determined by the number of weeks in which court is held in each county in proportion to the total number of weeks court is held in the district. For purposes of this section, the term "compensation" means the gross salary plus all amounts paid for benefits, or otherwise, as a result of employment or as required by employment, but does not include transcript fees otherwise authorized to be paid by or through the counties. However, only salary earned for services rendered, and all lawfully credited unused leave not exceeding the accrual rates and limitations provided in Section 25-3-91 et seq., shall be reported and credited for retirement purposes. Amounts paid for transcript fees, benefits or otherwise, including reimbursement for travel expenses, shall not be reported or credited for retirement purposes.
For example, if there are thirty-eight (38) scheduled court weeks in a particular district, a county in which court is scheduled five (5) weeks out of the year would have to pay five-thirty-eighths (5/38) of the total annual compensation.
(3) The salary and any additional compensation for the performance of court administrator duties shall be paid in twelve (12) installments on the last working day of each month after it has been duly authorized by the appointing judge or chancellor and an order duly placed on the minutes of the court. Each county shall transfer to the Administrative Office of Courts one-twelfth (1/12) of the amount required to be paid pursuant to subsection (2) of this section by the twentieth day of each month for the salary that is to be paid on the last working day of the month. The Administrative Office of Courts shall pay to the court reporter the total amount of salary due for that month. Any county may pay, in the discretion of the board of supervisors, by the twentieth day of January of any year, the amount due for a full twelve (12) months.
(4) From and after October 1, 1996, all circuit and chancery court reporters will be employees of the Administrative Office of Courts. Court reporters for circuit and chancery courts shall be considered to be an "employee" for the purposes of Section 25-3-91 and shall accrue and receive personal leave and major medical leave under Section 25-3-91 et seq.
(5) No circuit or chancery court reporter shall be entitled to any compensation for any special or extended term of court after passage of this section.
(6) No chancery or circuit court reporter shall practice law in the court within which he or she is the court reporter.
( * * *7) For all travel required in the
performance of official duties, the circuit or chancery court reporter shall be
paid mileage by the county in which the duties were performed at the same rate
as provided for state employees in Section 25-3-41. The court reporter shall
file in the office of the clerk of the court which he serves a certificate of
mileage expense incurred during that term and payment of such expense to the
court reporter shall be paid on allowance by the judge of such court.
SECTION 2. Section 9-13-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
9-13-15. If the court
reporter is absent during the session of the court, the judge or chancellor
may, by an order entered upon the minutes of the court, appoint a court
reporter pro tempore, who shall be sworn to faithfully discharge his duties as
such, and who shall perform all the duties and be liable to all the penalties
and punishments described for or incident to the office of court reporter. The
court reporter pro tempore shall be paid for his services by the Administrative
Office of Courts * * * at the same rate as
the regular court reporter for the time that the court reporter pro tempore * * *
acts. The court which
is being served by the court reporter pro tempore shall authorize his
compensation by auditing and reporting the time served by the court reporter
pro tempore to the Administrative Office of Courts. * * * The salary of the court reporter pro tempore
shall be paid as provided in Section 9-13-19.
All acts of the court reporter pro tempore shall be as valid and effectual as if done by the regular court reporter; and such acts as are required to be certified and signed by the court reporter shall be certified and signed by him as court reporter pro tempore.
SECTION 3. Section 9-13-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
9-13-17. The circuit judge,
chancellor, * * * or county judge may, by an order spread upon the minutes
and made a part of the records of the court, appoint an additional court
reporter for a term or part of a term whose duties, qualifications and
compensation shall be the same as is now provided by law for official court
reporters. The additional court reporter shall be subject to the control of
the judge or chancellor, as is now provided by law for official court
reporters, and the judge or chancellor shall have the additional power to
terminate the appointment of such additional court reporter, whenever in his
opinion the necessity for such an additional court reporter ceases to exist, by
placing upon the minutes of the court an order to that effect. * * *
The additional court
reporter shall be paid for his services a salary designated by the judge or
chancellor not to exceed the salary authorized by Section 9-13-19. The salary
of the additional court reporter shall be paid by the Administrative Office of
Courts, as provided in Section 9-13-19. However, in any circuit, chancery,
or county * * * court district within the State of Mississippi, if the judge
or chancellor * * * determines
that in order to relieve the continuously crowded docket in such district, or
for other good cause shown, the appointment of an additional court reporter is
necessary for the proper administration of justice, he may, with the advice and
consent of the board of supervisors if the court district is composed of a
single county and with the advice and consent of at least one-half (1/2) of the
boards of supervisors if the court district is composed of more than one (1)
county, by an order spread upon the minutes and made a part of the records of
the court, appoint an additional court reporter. The additional court reporter
shall serve at the will and pleasure of the judge or chancellor, may be a
resident of any county of the state, and shall be paid a salary designated by
the judge or chancellor not to exceed the salary authorized by Section 9-13-19.
The salary of the additional court reporter shall be paid by the Administrative
Office of Courts, as provided in Section 9-13-19; and mileage shall be paid to
the additional court reporter by the county as provided in the same section.
The office of such additional court reporter appointed under this section shall
not be abolished or compensation reduced during the term of office of the
appointing judge or chancellor without the consent and approval of the
appointing judge or chancellor.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2013.
