AN ACT Relating to superior and district courts; and amending RCW 3.58.020 and 2.56.030.

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

Sec. 1. Section 101, chapter 299, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 35, chapter 258, Laws of 1984 and RCW 3.58.020 are each amended to read as follows:

The annual salaries of part time district judges shall be set by the county legislative authority ((~~in each county in accordance with the minimum and maximum salaries provided in this subsection:~~

~~(1) In districts having a population under two thousand five hundred persons, the salary shall be not less than one thousand five hundred dollars nor more than twelve thousand dollars;~~

(2) In districts having a population of two thousand five hundred persons or more, but less than five thousand, the salary shall be set at not less than one thousand eight hundred dollars nor more than fifteen thousand five hundred dollars;

(3) In districts having a population of five thousand persons or more, but less than seven thousand five hundred, the salary shall be set at no less than one thousand eight hundred or more than twenty-five thousand dollars;

(4) In districts having a population of seven thousand five hundred persons or more, but less than ten thousand, the salary shall be set at not less than two thousand two hundred fifty dollars or more than thirty thousand dollars;

(5) In districts having a population of ten thousand persons or more, but less than twenty thousand, the salary shall be set at no less than three thousand dollars or more than thirty-two thousand dollars;

(6) In districts having a population of twenty thousand persons or more, but less than thirty thousand, the salary shall be set at not less than five thousand two hundred fifty dollars or more than forty thousand dollars)).

Sec. 2. 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; and

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