by Amatulla Zakir

A state budget amendment that would transfer hiring powers from judges to county registers was dealt a blow June 15 when it was held in conference.

The initiative sought to move the power to hire assistant registers away from judges in the Family and Probate Court and give it to registers of probate.

Middlesex Register of Probate and Family Court John R. Buonomo had been a vocal supporter of the change, and state senators Charles E. Shannon, D-Somerville, and Jarrett T. Barrios, D-Somerville, sponsored the amendment in the Senate.

With their support, the amendment passed a Senate vote and was added to the Senate budget as Outside Section 316J.

The Senate budget was passed to a conference committee of House and Senate leadership, which resolves differences between the Senate and House budgets before passing a provisional budget to the governor for approval. Unfortunate for supporters of the change, the committee chose not to include Outside Section 316J in the conference committee budget.

“The likelihood that it will come up again in this legislative session is very slim,” said Sean J. Fitzgerald, chief-of-staff for State Sen. Shannon. “I realize we faced criticism and opposition on this bill,” Fitzgerald said. “But, the senator bases his decisions on the merits of a proposal, and not on the personalities that present them.”

Gary O. Todd, co-chair of the Boston Bar Association Family Law section, who opposed the amendment, said he was pleased at the outcome.

“I’m certainly pleased with the results of the committee hearing, that the bill didn’t go through, nor were the judges powers that they’d had for decades stripped from them,” Todd said.

“I have my fingers crossed that it won’t come up again in the future and jeopardize the court system.”