The Judicial Compensation Commission, he said, recommends an 11% raise for district judges for each year in the biennial budget. The House has proposed a 5% increase for district judges in its most recent budget proposal, but it is not included in the Senate’’s budget proposal.
The chief justice also threw his weight behind controversial measures to support a specialized court system specifically for businesses. Like all civil cases, business disputes are now handled by district judges elected by county, and appealed through the state’s 14 intermediate appellate courts before reaching the supreme court.
“Business cases are often more complex than other civil cases, and handling them alongside simpler cases makes for serious inefficiencies,” he said. “The costs and increased uncertainties of such litigation have led businesses to turn to arbitration and other dispute-resolution alternatives with the resulting lack of transparency and development of precedent.”
He noted other states have created specialized business courts. The measures, Senate Bill 27 and House Bill 19, however, have been criticized as a costly way to give special treatment to businesses and create a judicial system under the thumb of the governor.
The measures as filed would create a business court judicial district overseen by seven judges appointed by the governor.
