On Thursday, the Alabama Senate passed legislation creating four additional circuit judgeships and three additional district judges.
Senate Bill 39 (SB39) is sponsored by Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville).
The legislation creates four new circuit judgeships in the 23rd Circuit (Madison County), the 28th (Baldwin County), the 19th (Autauga, Chilton, and Elmore counties), and the 37th (Lee) as well as three additional district judgeships in Baldwin, Mobile, and DeKalb counties.
Alabama has grown over the years in population, but the number of circuit and district judges in Alabama has not increased at the same pace. This means higher case dockets for most of the judges the state has, which translates into divorces, civil litigation, and even criminal trials being postponed as overworked courts cannot expedite trials, hearings, and other work. Chief Justice Tom Parker told a reporter two years ago that the state needed 21 more judges.
The Legislature addressed this in 2015 when they passed a plan to reallocate judgeships. The plan was to reallocate judgeships to growing areas of the state, like Shelby County, Madison County, and Baldwin County, from declining or stagnant areas of the state, like Montgomery County, Jefferson County, and the Black Belt. When a judgeship was vacated due to death, retirement, or removal from the bench the Reallocation Commission was to have ordered that vacant judgeship reallocated from where the need was lesser to where it was greater. That was not popular with the judges and has not happened with great regularity. At the assistance of Senator Rodger Smitherman (D-Birmingham) and the Alabama Judges Association, SB39 would put a moratorium on the reallocation of judges until 2027.
The new judgeships would be filled by elections in 2024, with the new judges going into office in the second week of January 2025. This means that the fiscal year 2024 state general fund budget (SGF) that passed the House three weeks ago, which included no additional money for judges, will not need to be amended heavily if SB39 becomes law. According to the fiscal note, passage of SB39 will cost the state $2.1 million in 2025 and at least $2.9 million a year beyond that. The effect on the SGF will be $1.9 million in FY2025 and $2.5 million in FY2026 and beyond.
An earlier version of the bill created a new circuit judge in the eleventh circuit (Lauderdale County) instead of the thirty-seventh (Lee County). The substitute version that passed the Senate on Thursday eliminates that new circuit judgeship and moves that circuit judgeship to the thirty-seventh – though that change does not appear in the fiscal note.
The new circuit in the 19th circuit may reside in any county within the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit (Chilton, Autauga, or Elmore counties). The judge occupying Judgeship Number 4 shall be assigned to the domestic relations division of the circuit.
The initial judges elected to the additional judgeships created by SB39 shall serve for a six-year term, holding office from the first Monday following the second Tuesday in January after the general election at which the judges are elected.
SB29 also orders the Administrative Office of Courts to provide the following statistics for each fiscal year by circuit:
(1) Number of civil cases filed broken down by category.
(2) Number of civil cases resolved via a motion to dismiss or voluntary dismissal.
(3) Number of civil cases resolved via a motion for summary judgment.
(4) Number of civil cases in which a jury is empaneled.
(5) Number of civil cases tried to a jury verdict.
(6) Number of criminal cases filed broken down by type of offense.
(7) Number of total criminal counts filed broken down by type of offense.
(8) Number of criminal cases resolved via dismissal.
(9) Number of criminal cases resolved via plea agreement.
(10) Number of criminal cases resolved via some form of pre-trial diversion or alternative resolution program.
(11) Number of criminal cases in which a jury is empaneled.
(12) Number of criminal cases tried to a jury verdict.
(13) Number of juvenile cases filed broken down by dependency and delinquency.
(14) Number of juvenile cases resolved.
(15) Number of domestic cases filed broken down by category.
(16) Number of domestic cases resolved.
(17) Number of probate cases appealed to the circuit court.
(18) Any other information or data deemed relevant by the Alabama Supreme Court.
That information shall be provided to all of the following by January 15 of each year:
(1) The Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(2) The President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
(3) The chair of the Senate Finance and Taxation, General Fund Committee.
(4) The chair of the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee.
(5) The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
(6) The chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
(7) The Legislative Fiscal Officer.
(8) The chair of the Legislative Council.
(9) The vice chair of the Legislative Council.
(10) The Senate Minority Leader.
(11) The House Minority Leader.
The bill, as substituted, passed the Alabama Senate in a vote of 33 to 0. It moves to the Alabama House of Representatives for their consideration.
Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) previously told Alabama Today that he and the House were in favor of legislation addressing the state’s judge shortage.
Thursday will be day 21 of the 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative Session. The House convenes at 1:00 p.m.
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