Gov. Charlie Baker signed the state's final fiscal year 2016
budget on July 17, which included vetoes of some of the funding
allocated by the Legislature to the courts. Baker's budget provided
the Trial Court with an approximately $628 million allocation,
which court officials said would "preserves basic court
operations," but could restrict other programs. On July 30, the
House of Representatives and Senate voted to override the
governor's trial court vetoes restoring funding of the trial court
to $631.5 million for fiscal year 2016.
Baker's budget also vetoed the outside section that would have
provided a pay raise for some private bar advocates. The House of
Representatives voted to restore to the budget the MBA-backed
compensation increase for assigned private counsel raising the
hourly pay from $50 to $53 in the District and Juvenile Courts and
for Children and Family Law Cases from $50 to $55. However, the
Senate did not vote to restore the compensation increase. The MBA
will continue to work to attain greater increases throughout the
criminal justice system.
The final FY2016 budget included $17 million in funding for
civil legal aid -- an approximately $2 million increase over last
year's levels.