ALBANY – The assignment of judicial hearing officers to new state court cases has largely halted as administrators wait to see if any of the $7 million-a-year program will survive budget deliberations in Albany.
While Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau (See Profile) said she has issued no order to stop all new assignments to JHOs, she said she also has made it clear that JHO funding could well be suspended starting April 1, the beginning of the state’s fiscal year, due to a new round of austerity measures ordered by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman.
