Some counties to lose courts as Legislature sends judge reallocation bill to governor

Indiana Statehouse (IBJ Media photo)

Indiana lawmakers gave final approval Thursday night to legislation that would abolish court posts in Marion and three other counties and transfer them to Hamilton County and other faster-growing locales with more crushing caseloads.

House Bill 1144 now heads to Gov. Mike Braun for consideration.

The plan is not quite as sweeping as the one initially approved by the Indiana Senate on April 16. Still, the compromise measure would reduce the number of magistrate positions in Marion County Juvenile Courts from 17 to 11 while also eliminating the Blackford County Superior Court, Jennings County Superior Court and a Monroe County Circuit Court.

Two superior courts would be added in Hamilton County, as would two additional magistrates. Also added would be two more full-time magistrates in Elkhart County, one magistrate in Vigo County and one in Lawrence County juvenile court.

Spared from the chopping block initially set out by the April 16 plan were courts in Carroll, Gibson, Greene, Newton, Owen, Pulaski, Rush and Scott counties.

Rep. Chris Jeter, a Fishers Republican and the bill’s author, told the House that negotiators on the bill used the state’s weighted caseload management system to help determine which counties could best handle court cutbacks and which ones needed more judges.

Jeter’s home county of Hamilton is listed as the top county in need. Hamilton’s two new superior court judges would bring the county’s total to nine. They would be elected in November 2026 to six-year terms.

“I think this is a really taxpayer move … with an eye towards ensuring that our taxpayer money is going towards counties that need it,” Jeter said. “We have counties that are growing, counties that are not, and we just need to get these judges in the right spots.”

The House approved the legislation’s final version Thursday night by a vote of 83 to 5. The Senate voted 45 to 4 for the measure.