A revised plan for adding circuit judgeships across the state was endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, after being stripped of language requiring a Perry County resident serve as a judge in the circuit that also includes Pulaski County.
The measure sent to the Senate on Monday, Senate Bill 658, is essentially the same plan that was put forward by the Judicial Council in November as a result of an evaluation of caseloads, population growth, travel time to county courthouses and other factors.
That plan called for a judge to be added to each of the following circuits:
• The 21st Judicial Circuit, covering Van Buren County.
• The 4th Judicial Circuit, covering Washington and Madison counties.
• The 19th West Judicial Circuit, covering Benton County.
• The 12th Judicial Circuit, covering Sebastian County.
• The 2nd Judicial District, covering Clay, Greene, Mississippi, Poinsett, Craighead and Crittenden counties.
Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, said Monday his earlier plan to add a Perry County judge was a "trial run that didn't seem to work."
That plan, filed through legislation that has since sat dormant, drew opposition from the Judicial Council -- which hadn't recommended an additional judge for the 6th Judicial Circuit -- and from judges on that circuit, who said the circuit didn't need an another judge.
The 6th Judicial Circuit covers both Pulaski County, the state's largest county by population, and Perry County, one of the smallest.
Currently, none of the 17 judges of the 6th Circuit are residents of Perry County, though residents of that county are eligible to run for a spot on the court. While Pulaski County leans Democratic, the more rural Perry County tends to vote Republican. Judicial races are officially nonpartisan.
Circuit Judge Vann Smith, the administrative judge for the 6th Circuit, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last month that judges on the circuit rotate holding court in a converted post office in Perryville, the county seat, so that residents of the county don't have to travel to Little Rock for court.
Hester's earlier court plan, Senate Bill 570, only required an extra judge assigned to the 6th Circuit be a resident of Perry County. It wouldn't have required the judge to hold court in, or hear cases from Perry County.
Republicans, including Hester, have expressed frustration with laws passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature being overturned by judges in Little Rock, where many lawsuits challenging those laws are heard.
Hester's second iteration of the judiciary's plan, SB658, also proposed merging the 1th West Judicial Circuit, covering Jefferson and Lincoln counties, with the 11th East Judicial Circuit, covering Arkansas County, and eliminating one judgeship from the combined circuit. That language was scrapped from the bill Monday due to opposition.
The vice chairman of the committee that heard SB658 Monday, Sen. Stephanie Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, said her area needs more judges, not fewer.
NW News on 04/02/2019