Title
Declaring the Council of the City of Philadelphia's intention to eliminate funding to the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania within the next four-year period and urging the Pennsylvania General Assembly to carry-out its constitutionally-mandated and court-ordered responsibility to fund the First Judicial District, as mandated by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
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WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in County of Allegheny v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 517 PA. 65 (1987) declared that the Pennsylvania statutory scheme which requires counties to fund Pennsylvania's unified judicial system was unconstitutional; and
WHEREAS, Despite the fact that the Supreme Court afforded the Pennsylvania General Assembly time to enact appropriate funding legislation in order to comply with the Court's decision, the Pennsylvania General Assembly failed take any action; and
WHEREAS, As a result of the General Assembly's inaction, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in Pennsylvania State Association of County Commissioners v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 545 Pa. 324 (1996), ordered the General Assembly to "enact a funding scheme for the court system on or before January 1, 1998."; and
WHEREAS, Over a decade has passed since the court-ordered deadline for the General Assembly to fund the unified court system, yet the General Assembly has provided no such funding; and
WHEREAS, Since the court-ordered deadline, the City of Philadelphia has provided over $1.1 billion to the First Judicial District. The funding request for Fiscal Year 2009 alone is $114.5 million; and
WHEREAS, Additionally, the City of Philadelphia has provided and continues to provide other 'in-kind' financial benefits to the First Judicial District not reflected in annual funding requests, including but not limited to rental space paid for by the Department of Public Property, maintenance of that space, technical support from the Mayor's Office of Information Services, debt service ...
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