Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017

To amend title 28, United States Code, to authorize the appointment of additional bankruptcy judges, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017 2. Conversion of the temporary office of bankruptcy judge to the permanent office of bankruptcy judge in certain judicial districts (a) District of Delaware (1) The temporary office of 4 bankruptcy judges authorized for the district of Delaware by section 1223(b)(1)(C) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2005 ( 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 109–8 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 112–121 (2) The temporary office of bankruptcy judge authorized for the district of Delaware by section 3(a)(3) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 1992 ( 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 102–361 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 109–8 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 112–121 (b) Southern District of Florida The temporary office of 2 bankruptcy judges authorized for the southern district of Florida by section 1223(b)(1)(D) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2005 ( 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 109–8 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 112–121 (c) District of Maryland The temporary office of 1 bankruptcy judge first appointed as authorized for the district of Maryland by section 1223(b)(1)(F) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2005 ( 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 109–8 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 112–121 (d) Eastern District of Michigan The temporary office of bankruptcy judge authorized for the eastern district of Michigan by section 1223(b)(1)(G) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2005 ( 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 109–8 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 112–121 (e) District of Nevada The temporary office of bankruptcy judge authorized for the district of Nevada by section 1223(b)(1)(T) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2005 ( 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 109–8 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 112–121 (f) Eastern District of North Carolina The temporary office of bankruptcy judge authorized for the eastern district of North Carolina by section 1223(b)(1)(M) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2005 ( 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 109–8 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 112–121 (g) District of Puerto Rico (1) The temporary office of bankruptcy judge authorized for the district of Puerto Rico by section 1223(b)(1)(P) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2005 ( 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 109–8 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 112–121 (2) The temporary office of bankruptcy judge authorized for the district of Puerto Rico by section 3(a)(7) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 1992 ( 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 102–361 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 109–8 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 112–121 (h) Eastern District of Virginia The temporary office of bankruptcy judge authorized for the eastern district of Virginia by section 1223(b)(1)(R) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2005 ( 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 109–8 28 U.S.C. 152 Public Law 112–121 3. Permanent office of bankruptcy judge authorized To reflect the conversion of the temporary office of bankruptcy judge to the permanent office of bankruptcy judge made by the operation of section 2, and to authorize the appointment of additional bankruptcy judges, section 152(a)(2) of title 28, United States Code, is amended— (1) in the item relating to the district of Delaware, by striking 1 8 (2) in the item relating to the middle district of Florida, by striking 8 9 (3) in the item relating to the southern district of Florida, by striking 5 7 (4) in the item relating to the district of Maryland, by striking 4 5 (5) in the item relating to the eastern district of Michigan, by striking 4 6 (6) in the item relating to the district of Nevada, by striking 3 4 (7) in the item relating to the eastern district of North Carolina, by striking 2 3 (8) in the item relating to the district of Puerto Rico, by striking 2 4 (9) in the item relating to the eastern district of Virginia, by striking 5 6 4. Bankruptcy fees (a) Amendments to title 28 of the United States Code Section 1930(a)(6) of title 28, United States Code, is amended— (1) by striking (6) In (2) by adding at the end the following: (B) In any fiscal year, the quarterly fee payable for a quarter in which disbursements equal or exceed $1,000,000 shall be 1 percent of such disbursements or $250,000, whichever is less, unless the balance in the United States Trustee System Fund as of September 30 immediately preceding such fiscal year exceeds $200,000,000. . (b) Deposits of certain fees for fiscal years 2018 through 2022 Notwithstanding section 589a(b) of title 28, United States Code, for each of fiscal years 2018 through 2022— (1) 97.5 percent of the fees collected under section 1930(a)(6) of such title shall be deposited as offsetting collections to the appropriation United States Trustee System Fund (2) 2.5 percent of the fees collected under section 1930(a)(6) of such title shall be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury. (c) Effective date; application of amendments (1) Effective date This section shall take effect on July 1, 2017, or on the date of enactment of this Act, whichever is later. (2) Application of amendments The amendments made by this section shall apply to quarterly fees payable under section 1930(a)(6) of title 28, United States Code, as amended by this section, for disbursements made in any calendar quarter that begins on or after the effective date of this section.

Summary: Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017 (Sec. 2) This bill reauthorizes 14 temporary bankruptcy judgeships in specified judicial districts in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Puerto Rico, Virginia, Nevada, and North Carolina. (Sec. 3) It authorizes the appointment of four additional temporary bankruptcy judges in Delaware, Florida, and Michigan. (Sec. 4) The bill amends the federal judicial code to increase the quarterly fee imposed on certain chapter 11 (reorganization) debtors. Specifically, if the balance in the U.S. Trustee System Fund is less than $200 million, then a debtor with total quarterly disbursements of $1 million or more must pay a quarterly fee equal to $250,000 or 1% of disbursements, whichever is less. It also specifies that for FY2018-FY2022, 98% of the quarterly fees collected must be deposited as offsetting collections to the U.S. Trustee System Fund and 2% must be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury. (Sec. 5) This section amends the federal bankruptcy code to include an unsecured claim by a governmental unit (e.g., a tax claim by the Internal Revenue Service) resulting from the sale, transfer, exchange, or disposition of farming property in chapter 12 bankruptcy (family farmer or fisherman reorganization) proceedings. Such a claim that arises before a debtor's discharge, regardless of whether the claim is pre-petition or post-petition, must be treated as a pre-petition claim, is not entitled to priority status, must be provided for under the bankruptcy plan, and is dischargeable.