Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: I am pleased to be here today to discuss the results of our review of the federal judiciary’s assessment of its bankruptcy judgeship needs in the 1993, 1995, and 1997 assessment cycles. Limiting judgeship requests to the number necessary is important because each bankruptcy judgeship costs about $721,000 to establish and about $575,000 per year to maintain. At the same time, it is important that there be sufficient bankruptcy judgeships to enable the bankruptcy courts to adjudicate bankruptcy cases fairly and efficiently. Specifically, my testimony focuses on three principal issues: (1) the process, policies, and workload standards that the Judicial Conference of the United States used to assess the bankruptcy districts’ requests for additional bankruptcy judgeships; (2) how the Judiciary applied its policies and workload standards across the districts that requested bankruptcy judgeships; and (3) the extent of noncase-related travel in 1995 and 1996 by bankruptcy judges in the 14 districts for which the Judicial Conference of the United States has requested bankruptcy judgeships in 1997. In brief, we found that the Bankruptcy Committee and the Judicial Conference generally followed the Judicial Conference’s process and policies and consistently applied the Conference’s statistical workload standards in assessing individual district’s requests for additional judgeships in 1993, 1995, and 1997. For example, the Bankruptcy Committee and Judicial Conference placed heaviest emphasis on whether the districts requesting additional judgeships had a caseload that exceeded 1,500 weighted filings per existing authorized judgeship. Neither the Committee nor the Conference approved any request for additional judgeships from districts that did not meet this minimum standard. According to officials at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC), neither the Committee nor the Judicial Conference keeps written documentation on how other available data, such as case management practices or a district’s geography (travel distances between places of holding court), were used in assessing districts’ judgeship requests. AOUSC officials also stated that the use of data other than weighted case filings in assessing judgeship needs is inherently judgmental. The amount of time judges use for noncase-related travel—travel that is not related to adjudicating specific cases—could potentially affect the amount of time judges have to devote to individual cases. In assessing a bankruptcy judge’s workload, the Judicial Conference assumes that a bankruptcy judge will spend, on average, about 30 percent of his or her time—about 600 hours, or 75 work days per year—on noncase-related matters, such as travel, training, administrative affairs, and general case management activities that cannot be attributed to a specific case. We received information on noncase-related travel from 80 of the 84 authorized judges in the 15 districts that would receive or share 1 of the judgeships requested in 1997. These 80 judges reported a total of 416 noncase-related trips in 1995 and 403 in 1996. On the basis of the information reported, we calculated that overall these judges each used an average of 12.5 work days for noncase-related travel in each of these years. About 98 percent of these trips were made to destinations within the United States. Together, circuit or district meetings and activities; Judicial Conference meetings and activities; and workshops, seminars, and other activities sponsored by AOUSC or the Federal Judicial Center (FJC), accounted for about 66 percent of all noncase-related trips and about 74 percent of all noncase-related travel workdays in 1995. Comparable figures for 1996 were about 67 percent and about 73 percent, respectively. In correspondence to the Subcommittee Chairman on August 8, 1997, we provided more details about these trips for each district. Through AOUSC, we also surveyed the 13 authorized judges in the 4 districts with weighted filings of 1,500 or more during the 1997 assessment cycle that did not request judgeships. The 12 judges in these four districts (one position was vacant) reported a total of 177 noncase-related trips—75 in calendar year 1995 and 102 in calendar year 1996. Based on these reported data, we calculated that the 12 judges spent a total of 178 workdays in 1995 and 258 workdays in 1996 on noncase-related travel. This is a per judge average of 14.8 workdays in 1995 and 21.5 workdays in 1996. Overall, about 23 percent of all trips in these two years were sponsored and paid for by organizations other than the federal judiciary. To develop the information in this statement, we obtained documentation from AOUSC on (1) the process, policies, and workload standards the Judicial Conference has established for assessing the need for bankruptcy judgeships; (2) how the process, policies, and workload standards were used in the 1993, 1995, and 1997 assessment cycles to determine the number of additional bankruptcy judgeships needed and requested; and (3) the temporary assistance requested by and provided to the districts that sought additional judgeships in 1993, 1995, and/or 1997. Through AOUSC, we surveyed the 84 judges in the 15 districts that would receive or share one of the bankruptcy judgeships the Judicial Conference requested in 1997 to obtain information on the judges’ noncase-related travel in calendar years 1995 and 1996. Through AOUSC, we also surveyed the 13 judges in the 4 districts with weighted filings of 1,500 or more in the 1997 assessment cycle that did not request additional judgeships to obtain data on their noncase-related travel in calendar years 1995 and 1996. We did our work between March and August 1997 in Washington, D.C., and Dallas, TX, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Details of our scope and methodology are presented in appendix I. Bankruptcy cases in the United States are filed in 1 of the 90 federal bankruptcy courts. The Judicial Conference is statutorily required to periodically submit to Congress recommendations for new federal bankruptcy judgeships. Congress last authorized new bankruptcy judgeships in 1992. Subsequently, the Conference has sent recommendations for additional bankruptcy judgeships to Congress in 1993, 1995, and 1997. Congress considered, but not approve, any new judgeships from the 1993 and 1995 requests and is currently considering the 1997 request. To assist the Conference in advising Congress on the need for additional judgeships, the Conference’s Committee on Administration of the Bankruptcy System (Bankruptcy Committee) is to conduct periodic national judgeship surveys to evaluate requests for additional bankruptcy judgeships. In 1993, 1995, and 1997, the Bankruptcy Committee conducted its surveys and analyses through its Subcommittee on Judgeships. In considering each district’s bankruptcy judgeship request, the Bankruptcy Committee may recommend to the Judicial Conference one of seven options: one or more permanent judgeships, a temporary judgeship, a combination of permanent and temporary judgeships, the conversion of a temporary judgeship to a permanent judgeship, the extension of the term of an existing temporary judgeship, a judgeship to be shared by two or more districts; or, no changes to the district’s existing number and type of authorized judgeships. A permanent judgeship is a position that is statutorily added to the bankruptcy district’s current authorized total and remains authorized until statutorily rescinded. A temporary judgeship is a position that is statutorily created and authorized for 5 years after a judge is appointed to fill the temporary judgeship. It is important to note that it is the judgeship that is temporary, not the judge appointed to fill the position. The judge appointed to a temporary judgeship serves the same full 14-year term as a colleague appointed to fill a permanent position. When a temporary judgeship’s 5-year authorization expires, the next vacancy to occur in the district cannot be filled. However, between the time that the temporary judgeship expires and a vacancy occurs, it is possible for the district to have more judges than authorized judgeships. Converting a district’s existing temporary judgeship to a permanent judgeship reclassifies an existing judgeship, rather than adding a judgeship to a district’s existing authorized total. In 1991, the Judicial Conference established a process, with policies and weighted workload standards, for reviewing bankruptcy judgeships. The formal process has 8 basic steps (see fig. 1) that, when fully implemented, would take about 9 months to 1 year to complete. As I will discuss later in my testimony, this process was generally followed in developing the Judicial Conference’s 1993, 1995, and 1997 bankruptcy judgeship requests. The eight basic steps in this formal process are as follows: 1. The Bankruptcy Committee requests that the chief judge of each appellate, district, and bankruptcy court assess the need for additional bankruptcy judgeships within their respective jurisdictions based on the Judicial Conference’s policies. At the same time, the Committee provides each bankruptcy court (or district) information on its weighted filings per current authorized judgeship. 2. The bankruptcy and district courts provide their views on the need for additional judges to their respective circuit judicial councils. The bankruptcy court also sends its views to the district court.3. After reviewing the material provided by the bankruptcy and district courts, the circuit judicial council forwards its recommendations, which may differ from those of the bankruptcy and district courts in the circuit, to the Bankruptcy Judges Division of AOUSC, which serves as staff to the Bankruptcy Committee. 4. Under the direction of the Bankruptcy Committee’s Subcommittee on Judgeships, written mail surveys are sent to those districts for which judgeships have been requested. The Subcommittee on Judgeships conducts an on-site survey whenever a district initially requests additional judgeships. When a district renews a request previously approved by the Judicial Conference, but which Congress has not approved, the Bankruptcy Committee determines whether to conduct another survey. The on-site survey team is to generally consist of a bankruptcy judge member of the Bankruptcy Committee and staff of AOUSC’s Bankruptcy Judges Division. The team interviews a variety of court officials and local attorneys, and reviews court files, dockets, and reports.