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2002 FINAL STATELEGISLATIVE PROGRAM CORE ISSUE ISSUE: INCREASED NUMBER OF JUDGESHIPS SUMMARY: Several methods have been suggested to reduce clogged court dockets. Among them has been to increase the number of judgeships in some jurisdictions. Since 1979, the Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals has formally requested the approval of new judgeships by the General Assembly. Until 1996, no new judgeships had been approved by the legislature without the Chief Judge’s certification, but in that year the General Assembly broke with precedent by creating four new Circuit Court judgeships in Baltimore City. In the 2000 session, an attempt to add a district court judgeship in St. Mary's County that was not certified failed, but its demise led to the defeat of a bill that would have added six new circuit court judgeships. This outcome was repeated in 2001, when some State Senate leaders questioned the need for any new Circuit Court judgeships by rejecting ten new positions for the most populated counties in family divisions, plus two slots for rural jurisdictions. The proposed five new District Court positions were supported by both houses of the General Assembly, but were lost when the legislation creating all new judgeships failed to pass. Three new Circuit Court positions were added in Montgomery County, while two District Court slots were removed as part of the transfer of juvenile cases in that subdivision. The method of deciding which jurisdictions require additional judgeships relies on a statistical analysis which takes into account several variables including: actual and projected filings; the number of pending cases per judge; the ratio of attorneys to judges; the time required for the filing of the case through disposition (divided by criminal, civil and juvenile); and the population per judge for each jurisdiction. In addition, each circuit administrative judge and others in the jurisdiction familiar with the courts are consulted. Once the Chief Judge has considered all of the responses and statistics, a decision is made regarding which jurisdictions require new judges. Because of the costs associated with additional judgeships, a variety of steps are taken on an administrative level prior to the request for a new position. These interim steps include: temporary recall of retired judges; the assignment of active judges from other areas and other courts of the State; and, procedural management adjustments, if necessary. If it is clear that these measures will not result in a permanent decrease in the caseloads, then a new judgeship is requested. Since 1988, the General Assembly has approved thirty-four circuit court judgeships (Prince George's-seven, Montgomery-seven, Baltimore-three, Charles-two, St. Mary’s-two, Anne Arundel-one, Calvert-one, Carroll-one, Cecil-one, Frederick-one, Harford-one, Howard-one, Washington-one, and Wicomico-one Counties and Baltimore City-seven) and seventeen district court positions (Districts 1-three, 2- one, 4-one, 5-three, 6-two, 7-two, 8-one, 9-one, 10-one and 11-two). MSBA 2002 POSITION: The Maryland State Bar Association is committed to finding immediate and long-range solutions to the problem of overburdened court dockets. Support legislation that will add judges in jurisdictions identified by the Administrative Office of the Courts. NOTE: The MSBA Board of Governors did not take a position on the 1996 bill that created four new Circuit Court judgeships in Baltimore City. SAMPLE LEGISLATION:
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