AN ACT Relating to superior and district courts; and amending RCW 2.56.030, 3.34.020, and 3.34.030.

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

Sec. 1. Section 3, chapter 259, Laws of 1957 as amended by section 1, chapter 132, Laws of 1981 and RCW 2.56.030 are each amended to read as follows:

The administrator for the courts shall, under the supervision and direction of chief justice:

(1) Examine the administrative methods and systems employed in the offices of the judges, clerks, stenographers, and employees of the courts and make recommendations, through the chief justice, for the improvement of the same;

(2) Examine the state of the dockets of the courts and determine the need for assistance by any court;

(3) Make recommendations to the chief justice relating to the assignment of judges where courts are in need of assistance and carry out the direction of the chief justice as to the assignments of judges to counties and districts where the courts are in need of assistance;

(4) Collect and compile statistical and other data and make reports of the business transacted by the courts and transmit the same to the chief justice to the end that proper action may be taken in respect thereto;

(5) Prepare and submit budget estimates of state appropriations necessary for the maintenance and operation of the judicial system and make recommendations in respect thereto;

(6) Collect statistical and other data and make reports relating to the expenditure of public moneys, state and local, for the maintenance and operation of the judicial system and the offices connected therewith;

(7) Obtain reports from clerks of courts in accordance with law or rules adopted by the supreme court of this state on cases and other judicial business in which action has been delayed beyond periods of time specified by law or rules of court and make report thereof to supreme court of this state;

(8) Act as secretary of the judicial conference referred to in RCW 2.56.060;

(9) Formulate and submit to the judicial council of this state recommendations of policies for the improvement of the judicial system; ((~~and~~))

(10) Submit annually, as of February 1st, to the chief justice and the judicial council, a report of the activities of the administrator's office for the preceding calendar year;

(11) Administer programs and standards for the training and education of judicial personnel;

(12) Examine the need for new superior court and district judge positions under a weighted caseload analysis that takes into account the time required to hear all the cases in a particular court and the amount of time existing judges have available to hear cases in that court. The results of the weighted caseload analysis shall be reviewed by the board for judicial administration and the judicial council, both of which shall make recommendations to the legislature by January 1, 1989. It is the intent of the legislature that weighted caseload analysis become the basis for creating additional district court positions, and recommendations should address that objective; and

(13) Attend to such other matters as may be assigned by the supreme court of this state.

Sec. 2. Section 11, chapter 299, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 8, chapter 258, Laws of 1984 and RCW 3.34.020 are each amended to read as follows:

Except as otherwise provided in RCW 2.56.030, in each district having a population of forty thousand or more but less than sixty thousand, there shall be elected one full time justice of the peace; in each district having a population of sixty thousand but less than one hundred twenty-five thousand, there shall be elected two full time justices; in each district having a population of one hundred twenty-five thousand but less than two hundred thousand, there shall be elected three full time justices; and in each district having a population of two hundred thousand or more there shall be elected one additional full time justice for each additional one hundred thousand persons or fraction thereof. If a district having one or more full time justices should change in population, for reasons other than change in district boundaries, sufficiently to require a change in the number of judges previously authorized to it, the change shall be made by the county legislative authority without regard to RCW 3.34.010 as now or hereafter amended and shall become effective on the second Monday of January of the year following. Upon any redistricting of the county thereafter the number of justices in the county shall be designated under RCW 3.34.010. In a district having a population of one hundred twenty thousand people or more adjoining a metropolitan county of another state which has a population in excess of five hundred thousand, there shall be one full time justice in addition to the number otherwise allowed by this section and without regard to RCW 3.34.030 or resolution of the county legislative authority. The county legislative authority may by resolution make a part time position a full time office. The county legislative authority may by resolution provide for the election of one full time justice in addition to the number of full time justices authorized.

Sec. 3. Section 12, chapter 299, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 9, chapter 258, Laws of 1984 and RCW 3.34.030 are each amended to read as follows:

Except as otherwise provided in RCW 2.56.030, and notwithstanding the limitations of RCW 3.34.010 and 3.34.020, in any district having more than one justice of the peace, if any city or town elects to select under the provisions of chapter 3.50 RCW a person other than a justice of the peace to serve as municipal judge, the county legislative authority may reduce the number of justices of the peace required for the county and district by one for each one hundred and fifty thousand persons or fraction thereof residing in all such municipalities, electing to select a municipal judge who is not also a justice of the peace: PROVIDED, That in no case shall the number of justices of the peace in any county be less than one for each one hundred thousand persons or major fraction thereof in such county, nor shall the number of justices of the peace in any district be less than one for each one hundred and fifty thousand persons or major fraction thereof.