Facing the need to make do with less money over the next biennium, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller were among several judges and judicial officials who recently testified at hearings on H.B. 1, the appropriations bill. According to the Legislative Budget Board, the initial funding recommendation for the Texas judiciary totals $604.2 million for the 2012-2013 biennium. That’s $69.7 million, or 10.3 percent, less than the funding in the 2010-2011 biennium. Keller, who testified before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, says she asked legislators to consider restoring $290,000 over the two-year period to fund two attorney positions in the noncapital writs section that currently are unfilled. “We are concerned about the possibility of a backlog” without attorneys to fill those two positions, Keller says. The appropriations recommendation on the table for the CCA calls for a cut of 10.1 percent, or $3 million, from the court’s current biennium appropriation. Carl Reynolds , administrative director of the Texas Office of Court Administration , who also testified on H.B. 1, says he suggested some ways to increase revenue through the court system, such as a licensing fee for private process servers, and higher litigation filing fees and criminal conviction costs. Reynolds says he also asked legislators to consider restoring $940,000 in proposed funding cuts, compared to funding in the 2010-2011 biennium for the TOCA, to support the Texas Appeals Management and eFiling System (TAMES), an electronic case management system for the appeals courts. “What we are basically saying about our $940,000 is to keep alive our ability to work with TAMES. We’ve come all this way and we’ve got to be able to run this system,” he says. Jefferson did not return two telephone calls seeking comment, but he addressed the Legislature in his State of the Judiciary speech on Feb. 23. Among his calls to action, Jefferson asked the Legislature to appropriate $20 million for “basic civil legal services” and to “support efforts to make our criminal justice system fair.” He also advocates reforms to the judicial election system, such as eliminating straight-ticket voting, extending terms to six years for district judges and to eight for appellate jurists, and allowing appointed judges to serve a full unexpired term before facing an election. Jefferson also told legislators that he supports retention of historic court records.
Suit Settles
On Feb. 24, Pauline Higgins , former general counsel of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Metro), announced she has settled her defamation and whistleblower suit. Higgins, who was fired on Feb. 23, 2010, sued Metro and Frank Wilson, the agency’s former president and CEO. Higgins, now a partner in Lam, Lyn & Philip in Houston, says she settled because Metro agreed to apologize to her as part of the settlement. She says her goal in filing the suit was to restore her reputation, not collect monetary damages from a taxpayer-funded agency. In the settlement, Metro agreed to pay up to $100,000 to cover Higgins’ legal fees and expenses. In a written statement, Metro CEO George Greanias writes that he is grateful Higgins agreed to forgo personal monetary damages. In the statement, Metro chairman Gilbert Garcia writes, “The new Metro regrets and disapproves of the inaccurate statements made about Ms. Higgins in the media regarding her departure from Metro. We appreciate Ms. Higgins’ efforts to help us conclude this legacy issue so that we can concentrate on safe, reliable, convenient and affordable public transit and mobility services that our customers and taxpayers deserve.” In her first amended petition in Higgins v. Wilson, et al. , Higgins alleged Metro fired her because she had complained to Houston Mayor Annise Parker that the agency wasn’t complying with state laws governing document retention. She also alleged that Wilson had defamed her with statements he made at press conferences and by providing a newspaper editorial board with “questionable documents from an alleged ‘investigation’ into Higgins’ management practices.” Higgins sued Wilson alleging defamation and Metro alleging it violated the Texas Whistleblower Act; the defendants denied the allegations. In an interview, Higgins says she was “totally blindsided” by her firing and her job search was harmed by untrue media reports about her. Joseph Ahmad , a shareholder in Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Anaipakos in Houston who represents Higgins along with Rusty Hardin of Houston’s Rusty Hardin & Associates , says the settlement with Metro also covers former CEO Wilson. Robin Gibbs , a partner in Gibbs & Bruns in Houston who represents Wilson in the suit, did not return a telephone message.
