I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2522
To make improvements in the operation and administration of the Federal
courts, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 17, 2001
Mr. COBLE (for himself and Mr. BERMAN) (both by request) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and
in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To make improvements in the operation and administration
of the Federal courts, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Federal Courts Improvement Act of 2001’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of
this Act is as follows:
Section 1. Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I—JUDICIAL PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS
Sec. 101. Bankruptcy administrator authority to appoint trustees, examiners,
and committee of creditors.
Sec. 102. Place of holding court in the eastern district of Texas.
Sec. 103. Conditions of probation and supervised release.
Sec. 104. Enforcement of National Labor Relations Board orders.
Sec. 105. Repeal of geographic location requirement for court records.
Sec. 106. Reporting of wiretap orders.
Sec. 107. Clarifying the scope of diversity of citizenship for resident aliens.
Sec. 108. Authority of district courts regarding jurors.
Sec. 109. Deletion of automatic excuse from jury service for members of the
armed forces, members of fire and police departments, and
public officers.
Sec. 110. Elimination of the public drawing requirements for selection of juror
wheels.
Sec. 111. Supplemental attendance fee for petit jurors serving on lengthy trials.
TITLE II—JUDICIAL PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION, BENEFITS,
AND PROTECTIONS
Sec. 201. Disability retirement and cost-of-living adjustments of annuities for
territorial judges.
Sec. 202. Federal judicial center personnel matters.
Sec. 203. Annual leave limit for judicial branch executives.
Sec. 204. Supplemental benefits program.
Sec. 205. Law clerk loan deferment.
Sec. 206. Inclusion of judicial branch personnel in organ donor leave program.
Sec. 207. Repeal of requirement for additional legislative action regarding judi-
cial compensation.
Sec. 208. Maximum amounts of compensation for services other than counsel.
Sec. 209. Student loan forgiveness for Federal defenders.
Sec. 210. Protection against malicious recording of fictitious liens against Fed-
eral judges.
TITLE I—JUDICIAL PROCESS
IMPROVEMENTS
SEC. 101. BANKRUPTCY ADMINISTRATOR AUTHORITY TO
APPOINT TRUSTEES, EXAMINERS, AND COM-
MITTEE OF CREDITORS.
(a) APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES.—Until the amend-
ments made by subtitle A of title II of the Bankruptcy
Judges, United States Trustees, and Family Farmer
Bankruptcy Act of 1986 (28 U.S.C. 581 note) become ef-
fective in a judicial district and apply to a case, a bank-
ruptcy administrator appointed to serve in the district
pursuant to section 302(d)(3)(I) of that Act, shall appoint
the trustees, examiners, and standing trustees, notwith-
standing any reference in title 11, United States Code,
to appointments by the court.
(b) STANDING TRUSTEES.—A bankruptcy adminis-
trator who has appointed a standing trustee pursuant to
subsection (a) of this section shall fix the standing trust-
ee’s maximum annual compensation and percentage fee,
subject to the limitations set out in section 586(e)(1)(A)
of title 28, United States Code. The bankruptcy adminis-
trator shall fix the maximum annual compensation and
percentage fee notwithstanding any reference in title 11,
United States Code, to the court’s authority to fix them.
(c) SERVICE AS TRUSTEE.—A bankruptcy adminis-
trator may serve as and perform the duties of a trustee
in a case under chapter 7 of title 11, United States Code,
if none of the members of the panel of private trustees
is disinterested and willing to serve as trustee in the case.
A bankruptcy administrator may serve as and perform the
duties of a trustee or standing trustee in cases under
chapter 12 or chapter 13 of title 11, United States Code,
if necessary.
(d) APPOINTMENT
OF
COMMITTEES.—Until the
amendments made by subtitle A of title II of the Bank-
ruptcy Judges, United States Trustees and Family Farm-
er Bankruptcy Act of 1986 become effective in a judicial
district and apply to a case, the bankruptcy administrator
appointed to serve in the district shall appoint the commit-
tees of creditors and equity security holders provided in
section 1102 of title 11, United States Code. The bank-
ruptcy administrator shall appoint the committees not-
withstanding any reference in title 11, United States
Code, to appointments by the court.
SEC. 102. PLACE OF HOLDING COURT IN THE EASTERN DIS-
TRICT OF TEXAS.
Section 124(c) of title 28, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) in paragraph (3)—
(A) by striking ‘‘Denton, and Grayson’’
and inserting ‘‘Delta, Denton, Fannin, Grayson,
Hopkins, and Lamar’’; and
(B) by inserting ‘‘and Plano’’ after ‘‘held
at Sherman’’;
(2) by striking paragraph (4) and redesignating
paragraphs (5) through (7) as paragraphs (4)
through (6), respectively; and
(3) in paragraph (5), as so redesignated, by in-
serting ‘‘Red River,’’ after ‘‘Franklin,’’.
SEC. 103. CONDITIONS OF PROBATION AND SUPERVISED
RELEASE.
(a) 
CONDITIONS
OF
PROBATION.—Section
3563(a)(2) of title 18, United States Code, is amended
by striking ‘‘(b)(2), (b)(3), or (b)(13),’’ and inserting
‘‘(b)(2) or (b)(12), unless the court has imposed a fine
under this chapter, or’’.
(b) SUPERVISED RELEASE AFTER IMPRISONMENT.—
Section 3583(d) of title 18, United States Code, is amend-
ed by striking ‘‘section 3563(b)(1)’’ and all that follows
through ‘‘appropriate.’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3563(b)
and any other condition it considers to be appropriate, ex-
cept that a condition set forth in subsection 3563(b)(10)
shall be imposed only for a violation of a condition of su-
pervised release in accordance with subsection (e)(2) of
this section and only when facilities are available.’’.
(c) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section
3563(b)(10) of title 18, United States Code, is amended
by inserting ‘‘or supervised release’’ after ‘‘probation’’.
SEC. 104. ENFORCEMENT OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS
BOARD ORDERS.
Section 10 of the National Labor Relations Act (29
U.S.C. 160) is amended—
(1) in subsection (e)—
(A) by inserting after ‘‘(e)’’ the following:
‘‘REVIEW OF ORDER; REHEARING.—’’;
(B) by striking the first sentence;
(C) in the second sentence, by striking
‘‘Upon the filing’’ and all that follows through
‘‘thereupon’’ and inserting ‘‘Upon the filing of
a petition for review under subsection (e), the
court’’; and
(D) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘by
the appropriate United States court of appeals
if application was made to the district court as
hereinabove provided, and’’;
(2) in subsection (f)—
(A) by inserting after ‘‘(f)’’ the following:
‘‘PETITION
FOR
REVIEW
OF
BOARD
ORDER.—’’;
(B) in the first sentence by inserting
‘‘, within 60 days after the date of the order,’’
after ‘‘by filing in such a court’’; and
(C) by striking the last sentence;
(3) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as
subsections (f) and (e), respectively, and by revers-
ing the order of such subsections;
(4) in subsection (g), by striking ‘‘or (f)’’; and
(5) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(n) PENALTY FOR VIOLATION OF ORDER; INJUNC-
TIONS AND OTHER APPROPRIATE EQUITABLE RELIEF.—
If any person violates a final order issued by the Board
with respect to an unfair labor practice, the Board may
petition any United States district court in which the un-
fair labor practice occurred, or in which such person re-
sides or transacts business, for imposition of a civil pen-
alty not to exceed $10,000 for each day on which such
person violates the order. The United States district
courts shall have jurisdiction to impose such a penalty
through civil proceedings. In such actions, the United
States district courts may grant injunctions and such
other equitable relief as they deem appropriate in the en-
forcement of such final orders of the Board.’’.
SEC. 105. REPEAL OF GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION REQUIRE-
MENT FOR COURT RECORDS.
Section 457 of title 28, United States Code, is
amended in the first paragraph—
(1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘at one or
more of the places where court is held’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘by the clerks of the respective courts’’; and
(2) by striking the second sentence.
SEC. 106. REPORTING OF WIRETAP ORDERS.
Paragraph (1) of section 2519 of title 18, United
States Code, is amended by striking all that precedes
‘‘(a)’’ and inserting the following:
‘‘(1) In January of each year, any judge who has
issued an order (or extension thereof) under section 2518
which expired during the preceding year or who has denied
approval of an interception during that year, shall report
to the Administrative Office of the United States
Courts—’’.
SEC. 107. CLARIFYING THE SCOPE OF DIVERSITY OF CITI-
ZENSHIP FOR RESIDENT ALIENS.
Section 1332(a) of title 28, United States Code, is
amended by striking the last sentence and inserting the
following: ‘‘The district courts shall not have original ju-
risdiction under paragraph (2) or (3) where the matter
in controversy is between a citizen of a State and a citizen
or subject of a foreign state admitted to the United States
for permanent residence and domiciled in the same
State.’’.
SEC. 108. AUTHORITY OF DISTRICT COURTS REGARDING
JURORS.
Section 1866(g) of title 28, United States Code, is
amended in the first sentence—
(1) by striking ‘‘shall’’ and inserting ‘‘may’’;
and
(2) by striking ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the’’.
SEC. 109. DELETION OF AUTOMATIC EXCUSE FROM JURY
SERVICE FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED
FORCES, MEMBERS OF FIRE AND POLICE DE-
PARTMENTS, AND PUBLIC OFFICERS.
(a) REMOVAL OF EXEMPTION.—Section 1863(b) of
title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking para-
graph (6) and redesignating paragraphs (7) and (8) as
paragraphs (6) and (7), respectively.
(b) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENTS.—(1) 
Section
1865(a) of title 28, United States Code, is amended in
the first sentence by striking ‘‘, or exempt,’’.
(2) Section 1866 of title 28, United States Code, is
amended—
(A) in the first sentence of subsection (a), by
striking ‘‘exempt or’’;
(B) in the first sentence of subsection (c)—
(i) by striking ‘‘or (6)’’; and
(ii) by striking ‘‘excused, or exempt’’ and
inserting ‘‘or excused’’; and
(C) in the first sentence of subsection (d), by
striking ‘‘exempt,’’;
(3) Section 1869 of title 28, United States Code, is
amended—