Esta ley enmienda la Ley Núm. 201 de 22 de agosto de 2003 para aumentar el salario anual de los jueces del Tribunal de Apelaciones, y de los jueces Superiores y Municipales del Tribunal de Primera Instancia en Puerto Rico. Establece los nuevos montos salariales para cada categoría de juez y especifica la procedencia de los fondos para cubrir estos aumentos.
(Approved August 27, 2004)
To amend subsections 3, 4 and 5 of Section 7.001 of Act No. 201 of August 22, 2003, in order to increase the annual salary of the Judges of the Court of Appeals, of the Superior and Municipal Judges of the Court of First Instance; and to establish their provisions.
Article V of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico provides for the exercise of the Judicial Power. This constitutional provision is instituted by the Act of the Judiciary which establishes the General Court of Justice composed by a Supreme Court, a Court of Appeals and a Court of First Instance. The Judicial Branch, which guarantees the remedies provided by our body of laws, is the bastion of democracy of our people. It is in the courts where thousands of Puerto Ricans uphold their fundamental rights, their hopes and the social order that must prevail throughout the whole of the democratic system of government.
Our Judiciary is distinguished by the basic faith our citizens have in their Courts, the judicial independence and the honesty of its judges. The judges, as ministers of justice, are the men and women who each day attend to the claims of the citizens efficiently, honestly and responsibly and thus provide access to a system of justice which is each day perceived as being
more complex. According to the report submitted by the Comisión Futurista de los Tribunales (Commission on the Future of the Courts), created in 1995 by the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, the Hon. José Andreu García, the Judicial Branch shall be viewed thus during this century: "The Judicial Branch shall be independent and accessible and shall render services fairly, expeditiously, sensibly and with a humanistic approach. The judiciary shall be highly qualified and have constant resources for learning at its disposal. It shall rely on a strategic and shared leadership so as to allow for the development of dynamic administrative designs and methods to respond to the social changes as well as on an adequate infrastructure and cutting-edge technology." (Unofficial translation)
It thus becomes imperative that the salaries of these ministers of justice be increased so that their difficult task is adequately compensated in accordance with the efforts and the total devotion to the Judicial System of these selfless public servants.
Section 1.-Subsections 3, 4 and 5 of Section 7.001 of Act No. 201 of August 22, 2003, are hereby amended to read as follows: "Section 7.001.-Salaries of Judges Judges shall earn: (1) (2) (3) The annual salary of the judges of the Court of Appeals shall be one hundred and five thousand $(105,000)$ dollars.
(4) The annual salary of the Superior Judges of the Court of First Instance shall be eighty-nine thousand six hundred $(89,600)$ dollars. (5) The Municipal Judges of the Court of First Instance shall earn an annual salary of sixty-nine thousand six hundred $(69,600)$ dollars.
Section 2.-The funds consigned in this Act shall amount to two million four hundred thousand $(2,400,000)$ dollars proceeding from the General Fund and one million eight hundred thousand $(1,800,000)$ dollars from Act No. 201 of August 22, 2003.
Section 3.-This Act shall take effect October 1, 2004.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 233 (H.B. 4899) of the $7^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to amend subsections 3, 4 and 5 of Section 7.001 of Act No. 201 of August 22, 2003, in order to increase the annual salary of the Judges of the Court of Appeals, of the Superior and Municipal Judges of the Court of First Instance; and to establish their provisions, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $29^{ ext {th }}$ of September of 2005.
Francisco J. Domenech Director