BILL REQ. #: H-5022.1
| State of Washington | 59th Legislature | 2006 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 02/03/06.
AN ACT Relating to municipal court judges and commissioners; amending RCW 3.50.040, 3.50.050, 3.50.057, and 3.50.075; and repealing RCW 3.50.055 and 3.50.070.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 3.50.040 and 2002 c 136 s 2 are each amended to read
as follows:
Within thirty days after the effective date of the ordinance
creating the municipal court, the mayor of each city or town shall
appoint a municipal judge or judges of the municipal court ((for a term
of four years. The terms of judges serving on July 1, 1984, and
municipal judges who are appointed to terms commencing before January
1, 1986, shall expire January 1, 1986. The terms of their successors
shall commence on January 1, 1986, and on January 1 of each fourth year
thereafter, pursuant to appointment or election as provided in this
chapter. Appointments shall be made on or before December 1 of the
year next preceding the year in which the terms commence)) to serve
until January 1st of the year following the next election when other
city elected positions are normally elected.
The legislative authority of a city or town that has the general
power of confirmation over mayoral appointments shall have the power to
confirm the appointment of a municipal judge initially appointed under
this section.
A person appointed under this section as a full-time or part-time
municipal judge shall be a citizen of the United States of America and
a resident of the state of Washington; and an attorney admitted to
practice law before the courts of record of the state of Washington((:
PROVIDED, That in a municipality having a population less than five
thousand persons, a person who has taken and passed by January 1, 2003,
the qualifying examination for a lay candidate for judicial officer as
provided by rule of the supreme court may be the judge. Any city or
town shall have authority to appoint a district judge as its municipal
judge when the municipal judge is not required to serve full time. In
the event of the appointment of a district judge, the city or town
shall pay a pro rata share of the salary)).
Sec. 2 RCW 3.50.050 and 1984 c 258 s 107 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) The legislative authority of the city or town ((may)) shall, by
ordinance, provide ((that the position of municipal judge within the
city or town shall be an elective position. The ordinance shall
provide for the qualifications of the municipal judge which shall be
the same as the qualifications necessary for the appointment thereof;
and further, shall provide that the municipal judge shall be elected in
the same manner as other elective city officials are elected to office,
and that the term of the municipal judge shall be for a term of four
years commencing on January 1, 1986, and every four years thereafter))
for the number of full and part-time judges to be elected.
(2) Municipal court judge elections shall be held at the same time
as elections for other elected city offices.
(3) In cities or towns with more than one full or part-time judge
position, the county auditor or election official of the county, in
which the majority of city or town residents reside, shall, at least
ten days before the time of filing declarations of candidacy for the
election of municipal court judges, designate each such office of a
municipal court judge to be filled by a number, commencing with the
number one and numbering the remaining offices consecutively. At the
time of filing of the declaration of candidacy, each candidate shall
designate by number which one, and only one, of the numbered offices
for which he or she is a candidate. The name of the candidate shall
appear on the ballot for only the numbered office for which the
candidate filed a declaration of candidacy.
(4) Where a void in election or lapse of election occurs in a city
or town with a population of less than ten thousand, the filings for
office shall not be reopened and the mayor shall appoint a qualified
person to serve the entire term of office for the position for which
the void in election or lapse of election occurred. The legislative
authority of a city or town that has the general power of confirmation
over mayoral appointments shall have the power to confirm the
appointment of a municipal judge appointed under this section.
(5) To be eligible to file a declaration of candidacy for and to
serve as a municipal court judge, a person must be a citizen of the
United States of America and a resident of the state of Washington, and
must be either:
(a) A lawyer admitted to practice law in the state of Washington;
or
(b) In those cities or towns having a population of less than five
thousand persons, a person who has taken and passed, by January 1,
2003, the qualifying examination for a lay candidate for judicial
officer as provided by rule of the supreme court.
(6) The terms of municipal court judges serving on July 1, 2006,
and municipal judges who are appointed to terms commencing before
January 1, 2010, shall expire January 1, 2010. The terms of their
successors shall commence on January 1, 2010, and on January 1st of
each fourth year thereafter, pursuant to appointment or election under
this chapter.
Sec. 3 RCW 3.50.057 and 1993 c 317 s 6 are each amended to read
as follows:
A judge of a municipal court need not be a resident of the city in
which the court is created, but must be a resident of the county in
which the city is located. In cities or towns where a court
commissioner has not been appointed and the municipal court is presided
over by a part-time judge, the judge need not be a resident of the city
or county in which the municipal court is created.
Sec. 4 RCW 3.50.075 and 1994 c 10 s 1 are each amended 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, by January 1, 2003, 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.))
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5 The following acts or parts of acts are each
repealed:
(1) RCW 3.50.055 (Judicial positions--Filling--Circumstances
permitted) and 1993 c 317 s 4; and
(2) RCW 3.50.070 (Additional judges -- Appointment, election) and
1984 c 258 s 109 & 1961 c 299 s 56.