Alabama Attorney General Opinion 1979-0120

CHARLES A. GRADDICK LEE L. HALE ATTORNEY GENERAL DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL STATE OF ALABAMA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL nci- °mac WILLIAM M. &ENURE, JR. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT WALTER S. TURNER CHIEF ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL JANIE NOBLES ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT May 25, 1979 ARMINI eve BUILDING 4/1 NORTH UNION MONTGOMERY, 30150 AREA (205). 1111451150 Mr. Hiram Pitts President Covington County Commission Andalusia, Alabama 36420 Courts-Judicial Compensation Commission-Counties Recommendations made by the Judicial Compensation Commission will not become law where such recommendations are not within the authority of the Commission. Dear Mr. Pitts: Your request for an opinion from this office of March 13, 1979, reads as follows: "Amendment number 328 6.09(d) to the Alabama Constitution provides as follows: "The Commission may submit a report to the legislature at any time within the first five calendar days of any session. The recommendations of the Commission shall become law unless rejected by a joint resolution or altered by act of the legislature at the session to which the report is submitted. The compensa- tion of a judge shall not be diminished during his official term. "On January 4, 1978, the State Judicial Compensation Commission submitted its Mr. HiramPitt6 Page Two report to the 1978 session of the Alabama Legislature (pages 1890-1892, Vol. III, Acts of Alabama, 1978). This report read in part as follows: "f. The Commission further recommends as follows: "(1) That the entire salaries and compensation of all the judges, both at the trial and appellate levels, should be paid from the State Treasury. "(2) That all laws, general and special and local, providing for the payment of supplemental salaries, compensation, or expense allowances to Circuit Judges and District Judges by any County or Counties should be repealed in such manner as not to diminish the compensation of any judge during his term of office. "(3) That if the general, special or local laws providing for the payment of supplemental salaries, compensation or expense allowances by a County or Counties to Circuit Judges and District Judges are re- pealed, then the salaries or other compensation payable by the State to such Judges should be increased to such extent as to offset any loss of compensation to such Judges by the repeal of the said general, special or local laws. "I would like to inquire as follows: "1. Did this further recommenda- tion of the Judicial Compensation Commission become law? Mr. Hiram Pitts Page Three "2. Did this further recommenda- tion have the effect of repealing all supplemental salaries and compensation allowances paid the Circuit Judges and District Judges by Counties? "3. If a present law providing for payment of supplemental salaries, compensation or expense allowances by a County is repealed, will the compen- sation paid to such judges by the State be automatically increased by the amount of the loss of the County Supplement?" The answer to each of your questions is in the negative. The further recommendations of the Judicial Compensation Commission did not become law because these recommendations were not within the scope of authority of the Commission. Code of Alabama 1975, Section 12-10-4 provides that the Judicial Compensation Commission shall recommend to the Legislature the salary and expense allowance to be paid to judges from the State Treasury. The Commission is not given the authority to prohibit supplemental salaries paid from a fund other than the State Treasury, nor is the Commission given the authority to repeal local laws which provide for such supplemental salaries. Certainly the Commission has no authority to provide that supplemental salaries now paid by the counties shall be assumed by the state. Such an action would have the effect of allowing individual counties to determine what the state should pay to their respective judges, and would result in an unequal distribution of state funds throughout the various counties. Such a result is clearly not contemplated by Section 12-10-4, which establishes the duty of the Commission. Again, Section 12-10-4 does not discuss supplemental salaries, but simply gives the Commission jurisdiction over the amount of the salaries to be paid from the State Treasury. Amendment No. 328 6.09(d), which you cite in your letter, would of course apply only to those recommendations which the committee is authorized to make. Because the Commission does not have the authority to make the recommenda- tions to which you refer, it is my opinion that these recommendations have no legal effect. Mr. Hiram Pitts Page Four I trust that I have answered your questions. Sincerely, CHARLES A. GRADDICK Attorney General By- LINDA C. BRELAND Assistant Attorney General LCB:bb