Could Louisiana district courts use judicial expense funds to reimburse Judicial Compensation Commission members?

Plain-English summary

The District Judges Association asked whether the Fifteenth Judicial District Court's judicial expense fund could reimburse actual expenses incurred by members of the Judicial Compensation Commission. The attorney general's office answered yes in 2000. The commission studied judicial salaries and recommended changes to the legislature. The office concluded that this work was related to proper court administration, a purpose covered by the fund's broad authorization.

The opinion extended that conclusion to expense funds in other judicial districts only if their governing statutes used similarly broad language. It addressed reimbursement of actual commission expenses, not payment of commission members' salaries.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2000. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

District judges at the time

The opinion treated the commission's work on judicial salaries as sufficiently connected to court administration to support reimbursement from the Fifteenth Judicial District Court's fund.

Court administrators at the time

The opinion allowed disbursements for commission members' actual expenses under the fund's broad statutory purpose. For another district's fund, it made the conclusion depend on similarly broad statutory language.

Commission members at the time

The opinion described reimbursement for actual expenses necessarily incurred in performing commission duties. It also quoted the separate prohibition on compensation for commission service.

Common questions

Q: Could the Fifteenth Judicial District Court pay commission members' expenses from its judicial expense fund?
A: Yes. The 2000 opinion found that the commission's duties were related to proper court administration and that the fund's authorizing language covered that purpose.

Q: Did the same answer apply to every district court expense fund?
A: The opinion extended its answer to other judicial districts only where their fund statutes were similarly broad.

Q: Could commission members receive a salary from the fund?
A: The opinion addressed reimbursement of actual expenses. It quoted the law providing that commission members received no compensation for their service.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion described the Judicial Compensation Commission's membership and its duty to study and recommend judicial salaries under R.S. 13:41-49. It then examined R.S. 13:996.26, which permitted Fifteenth Judicial District Court fund disbursements for purposes connected with or incidental to proper court administration. The office found the required connection between the commission's work and those authorized purposes.

Citations and references

• R.S. 13:41-49 (creation and duties of the Judicial Compensation Commission)
• R.S. 13:996.26 (authorized uses of the Fifteenth Judicial District Court fund)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/00-0309

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.

August 28, 2000
OPINION NUMBER 00-309

15 Courts
56 Judges
Honorable Ronald D. Cox,
Judge and President of the R.S. 13:42, 43, 44, 46, 47 District Judges Association R.S. 13:996.25, 996.26, 996.27 P. O. Box 2108 Individual district court judicial expense funds may be used to reimburse Lafayette, LA 70502-2108 expenses incurred by members of the Judicial Compensation Commission in the performance of their functions and duties.
Dear Judge Cox:

You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General regarding the source of funding for the Judicial Compensation Commission (Commission). As you note in your request, the Commission is created pursuant to R.S. 13:41-49. Section 42 provides that the Commission shall consist of ten (10) appointed members subject to Senate confirmation. Section 43 provides that Commission members be residents and qualified voters of the State who shall serve four-year terms.

The duties and functions of the Commission are set forth in Section 46 which provides as follows:

§ 46. Duties and functions

A. The commission shall make a study of the salaries payable to judges.

B. The commission shall submit its recommendations concerning judges’ salaries to the legislature sixty days prior to the commencement of any regular session of the legislature in an even-numbered year.
Thereafter, a report may be submitted every two years at any regular session of the legislature in an even-numbered year. The report shall be submitted to the offices of the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate, who shall distribute copies to each member of their respective house of the legislature.

Section 47 provides as follows with regard to legislative approval of the Commission’s report:

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Opinion No. 00-309
Hon. Ronald D. Cox
President
District Judges Association
Page: -2-

§ 47. Legislative approval of commission report

The salaries recommended in the report shall take effect on the first day of July of the year in which the report was submitted if approved by concurrent resolution adopted by a favorable vote of the majority of the elected members of each house. The concurrent resolution to approve the recommendations of the report shall be adopted according to the same procedures and formalities, except for submission to the governor, required for the passage of a bill.

Section 44 provides the following with regard to the compensation and expenses of Commission members:

§44. Commission members; compensation prohibited; expenses

Members of the commission shall not receive compensation for their services, but shall be paid actual expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties as members of the commission.

As can be gleaned from the above, while the law provides for the reimbursement of actual expenses to Commission members, it does not address the source of funding for this reimbursement. You specifically ask whether the Judicial Expense Fund (Fund) of the Fifteenth Judicial District Court, as well as other similar legislatively created Judicial Expense Funds, can be used to reimburse the actual expenses incurred by Commission members.

The Judicial Expense Funds for the individual district courts are legislatively created and enumerated in R.S. 13:991 through 996.59.

R.S. 13:996.25 establishes the Fund for the Fifteenth Judicial District Court. Section 996.26 constitutes the legislative authority for disbursements from the Fund. A review of this Section reveals that disbursements can be made for court reporters’ salaries, as well as the salaries of secretarial, clerical, research, administrative or other personnel deemed necessary to expedite the business of the Court. The Fund may also be used to pay the cost of establishing and/or maintaining a law library or for buying and/or maintaining any type of equipment, supplies or other items consistent with or germane to the efficient operation of the Court.

Section 996.26 further provides:

In general, the judicial expense fund is established and may be used for any purpose or purposes connected with, incidental to, or related to the proper administration or function of the said court of the offices of individual judges and is in a addition to any and all other funds, salaries,

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Opinion No. 00-309
Hon. Ronald D. Cox
President
District Judges Association
Page: -3-

expenses or other monies that are now or hereafter provided, authorized or established by law for any of the aforesaid purposes. (Emphasis added.)

Section 996.27 prohibits the use of the Fund for the payment of salaries to any of the judges of the Fifteenth Judicial District, with the exception of that for administering the Fund, and only after prior legislative approval.

As can be gleaned from the above, the law is very broad in scope as to the purposes for which the Fund can be used. It specifically provides that disbursements can be made for any purpose or purposes connected with, incidental to, or related to the proper administration or function of the Court or the offices of the individual judges, with the exception of salaries.

We are of the opinion that a clear nexus exists between the duties and functions of the Commission, as set forth in R.S.13:46, and the purposes for which the Fund can be used for, as set forth in R.S. 13:996.26. More specifically, we find the duties and functions of the Commission to be incidental to or related to the proper administration or function of the Court and/or the offices of the individual judges.

Accordingly, it is the opinion of this office that disbursements can be made from the Fund to assist in the reimbursement of actual expenses of the Commission members in the performance of their duties. Obviously, this opinion is likewise applicable to any Expense Funds of other judicial districts, the statutory language of which is similarly broad in scope.

Trusting this adequately responds to your inquiry, I am

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
Attorney General

By:
ROBERT E. HARROUN, III
Assistant Attorney General

RPI/REH,3/sfj

Page 4

SYLLABUS
OPINION NO. 00-309

15 Courts
56 Judges

R.S. 13:42, 43, 44, 46, 47

R.S. 13:996.25, 996.26, 996.27

Individual district court judicial expense funds may be used to reimburse expenses incurred by members of the Judicial Compensation Commission in the performance of their functions and duties.

Honorable Ronald D. Cox,
Judge and President of the
District Judges Association
P. O. Box 2108
Lafayette, LA 70502-2108

DATE RECEIVED:

DATE RELEASED: August 28, 2000

Robert E. Harroun, III
Assistant Attorney General