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1 SEC. 10. No additional funds are authorized to be

2 appropriated to implement the provisions of this Act for 3 expenditure prior to October 1, 1978.

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SEC. 11. No magistrate shall exercise jurisdiction under

5 section 2 of this Act unless

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(1) he is certified to be competent to exercise such jurisdiction by the district court in the order of reference, in the case of any reference made prior to the promulgation of standards and procedures by the Judicial Conference in accordance with section 3 of this Act;

(2) he has been certified by the district court competent in light of the standards promulgated by the Judicial Conference in a statement filed with the judicial concil of the circuit and accepted by the council, in the case of references made after the promulgation of the standards and procedures required in section 3 of this Act to a magistrate who is serving under an appointment made

prior to the promulgation of such standards and proce

dures; or

(3) he is serving a term to which he was appointed

in accordance with the standards and procedures promul

22 gated by the Judicial Conference pursuant to section

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1 SEC. 12. Such sums as may be necessary to carry out

2 the purposes of this Act are hereby authorized to be appro3 priated for expenditure on or after October 1, 1978.

On behalf of the Judicial Conference of the United States, I am transmitting herewith a draft of an omnibus bill to make technical and administrative amendments in the Federal Magistrates System. The draft bill consolidates three separate proposals recommended from time to time by. the Judicial Conference.

The Federal Magistrates Act of October 17, 1968 was a major innovation in the Federal Judicial system, which has proven extraordinarily successful. Magistrates have now become an integral part of the federal judicial system and are vital to the expeditious administration of justice in the United States district courts. The Judicial Conference believes that, based on practical experience of more than eight years, it is now appropriate for the Congress to consider these improvements in that legislation. Section 1 of the draft bill would eliminate the provision of Section 633 (c) of Title 28, United States Code, which makes changes in the salaries or arrangements of magistrate positions effective sixty days after their promulgation by the Judicial Conference. In situations where no additional funds are required, such as changes in locations or modest salary adjustments, this provision serves only to delay changes which could otherwise be effective immediately.

At present Section 1915 of Title 28, United States Code, provides for the preparation of a transcript of a district court proceeding in a case involving an indigent appellant who appeals to a United States court of appeals. Costs paid by the United States become taxable to the United States in the event the appeal is successful.

Honorable Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr.

Page 2

Section 2 of the draft bill would extend this procedure
to cover the preparation of any needed transcript of a
proceeding before a United States magistrate serving as
a special master under Rule 53, Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure, in a case to be tried before a district judge.

Rule 53 requires that a master prepare a report upon
the matters submitted to him by the order of reference and
"in an action to be tried without a jury, unless otherwise
directed by the order of reference, shall file with it a
transcript of the proceedings and of the evidence and the
original exhibits. The cost of preparing such transcripts
has traditionally been charged against the parties as an
expense of litigation. However, in a case involving an
indigent party, where a transcript is needed, a reference
to a magistrate serving as a master cannot be made, since
the indigent party will be unable to pay the cost of a
transcript. The case must, therefore, be heard by a judge;
and the ability of the court to make effective use of a
magistrate as a master in these cases is diminished.

Sections 3 and 4 of the draft bill would remove the existing statutory restrictions against a full-time referee in bankruptcy performing magistrate duties. Removal of these restrictions would permit a full-time referee in bankruptcy to "back-up" a magistrate who is ill or temporarily away from his station. This would curtail the number of low-paying part-time magistrate positions which would otherwise have to be established to provide back-up services.

It is the view of the Judicial Conference that the proposals embodied in this draft bill will significantly improve the administration of the Federal Magistrates System.

Representatives of the Judiciary and of this office will be pleased to furnish any further information regarding the proposals contained in this draft bill that may be requested, or to testify before the Committee to which the bill may be referred.

Respectfully yours,

Enclosure

Rowland F. Kirks

Director

95TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION

H. R. 7811

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 15, 1977

Mr. RODINO (by request) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To improve the administration of the Federal Magistrates System, and for other purposes.

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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 That subsection (c) of section 633 of title 28, United States 4 Code, is amended by striking the final sentence.

5 SEC. 2. Subsection (b) of section 1915 of title 28,

6 United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

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"(b) Upon the filing of an affidavit in accordance with 8 subsection (a) of this section the court may direct payment 9 by the United States of the expense of (1) printing the 10 record on appeal in any civil or criminal case, if such print11 ing is required by the appellate court; and (2) preparing a