Estate of Cirone

Opinion

CAPACCIOLI, J.

—The pivotal issue in this case is whether a restriction in the 1985 Budget Act line-item appropriation for payment of attorney fee awards made pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5, 1 which limits expenditures to a maximum hourly rate of recovery, violates California Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine (Cal. Const., art. Ill, § 3). We conclude it does not and reverse.

I

Procedural History

“[Jessie] Cirone died at about 2 p.m. on June 8, 1982. The inheritance tax referee appointed by the probate court reported that Cirone’s estate owed a tax of $70,108.…