The Alaska Legislature has approved a proposal by the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court and Gov. Bill Walker to add a third superior court judge to Juneau’s Dimond Courthouse.<\/p>\n
In a 19-0 vote Monday morning, the Alaska Senate approved House Bill 298<\/a>, which authorizes the court system to transform one of Juneau’s two district court judgeships into a superior court judgeship.<\/p>\n The bill now advances to Walker for his signature. The House voted 36-0 on Feb. 23 to approve it.<\/p>\n If Walker signs the bill as expected, the measure will leave Juneau with one district court seat and three superior court seats. A district court typically handles misdemeanor-level infractions, while superior court typically handles felony-level offenses. In his State of the Judiciary speech to the Alaska Legislature earlier this year, Chief Justice Craig Stowers told lawmakers<\/a> that Juneau is seeing an increased number of felony cases.<\/p>\n According to figures provided by the Alaska Court System, Juneau’s superior court sees 590 filings per judge per year<\/a>, the most of any court other than Anchorage, which has other resources to accommodate demand.<\/p>\n The court system has shifted judges from Sitka and Ketchikan as needed, but transportation costs have mounted, and cases in those two cities have suffered as a consequence of judges’ split duties.<\/p>\n Stowers said his preference would have been to simply add a judge, but the state’s multibillion-dollar budget deficit precluded that option.<\/p>\n Instead, Stowers offered an alternative made available by the pending retirement of Juneau District Court Judge Thomas Nave. When the judgeship becomes open, the state could change it to a superior court judgeship in what Stowers called “a limited-time offer.”<\/p>\n That idea became HB 298. No new staff will be added under the bill, and the salary difference between a district court judge and a superior court judge (about $35,000) will be borne by the court system.<\/p>\n With only one district court judge in Juneau, the new superior court judge will be expected to take some district court cases as well.<\/p>\n Suzanne DiPietro, director of the Alaska Judicial Council, said that pending the governor’s approval of the bill, the council will begin advertise the new judgeship in June.<\/p>\n