H-4032.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1339

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      53rd Legislature     1994 Regular Session

By House Committee on Judiciary (originally sponsored by Representatives Pruitt, R. Meyers, Brumsickle, Zellinsky and Schmidt)

Read first time 02/04/94.

Appointing court commissioners in municipal court.

    AN ACT Relating to court commissioners in municipal court; and adding a new section to chapter 3.50 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 3.50 RCW to read as follows:

    One or more court commissioners may be appointed by a judge of the municipal court.  Each commissioner holds office at the pleasure of the appointing judge.  A commissioner authorized to hear or dispose of cases must be a lawyer who is admitted to practice law in the state of Washington or a nonlawyer who has passed the qualifying examination for lay judges for courts of limited jurisdiction under RCW 3.34.060.

    A commissioner need not be a resident of the city or of the county in which the municipal court is created.  When a court commissioner has not been appointed and the municipal court is presided over by a part-time appointed judge, the judge need not be a resident of the city or of the county in which the municipal court is created.

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