Bill Text: MI SB0834 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Courts; judges; circuit court judgeships; reduce in number, and reorganize certain circuits. Amends secs. 525, 549d & 550a of 1961 PA 236 (MCL 600.525 et seq.).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-11-29 - Reassigned To Committee On Judiciary [SB0834 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2011-SB0834-Introduced.html

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SENATE BILL No. 834

 

 

November 10, 2011, Introduced by Senator JONES and referred to the Committee on Redistricting.

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1961 PA 236, entitled

 

"Revised judicature act of 1961,"

 

by amending sections 525, 549d, and 550a (MCL 600.525, 600.549d,

 

and 600.550a), section 550a as amended by 2002 PA 92.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 525. The Except as otherwise provided in this section,

 

the twenty-fourth judicial circuit consists of the county of

 

Sanilac and has 1 judge. Beginning on the date on which a vacancy

 

occurs in the office of circuit judge of the fifty-second judicial

 

circuit or the beginning date of the term for which the incumbent

 

circuit judge of the fifty-second judicial circuit no longer seeks

 

election or reelection to that office, whichever is earlier, the

 

twenty-fourth judicial circuit consists of the counties of Huron

 

and Sanilac and has 1 judge.

 

     Sec. 549d. (1) The Except as provided in subsection (2), the

 

fifty-second judicial circuit consists of the county of Huron and

 

has 1 judge.

 

     (2) Effective the earlier of the following dates, the fifty-

 

second judicial circuit is abolished:

 

     (a) The date on which a vacancy occurs in the office of

 

circuit judge of the fifty-second judicial circuit.

 

     (b) The beginning date of the term for which the incumbent

 

circuit judge of the fifty-second judicial circuit no longer seeks

 

election or reelection to that office.

 

     Sec. 550a. (1) If a new judicial circuit is proposed by law,

 

that new circuit shall not be created and any circuit judgeship

 

proposed for the circuit shall not be authorized or filled by

 

election unless each county in the proposed circuit, by resolution

 

adopted by the county board of commissioners, approves the creation

 

of the new circuit and each judgeship proposed for the circuit and

 

unless the clerk of each county adopting that resolution files a

 

copy of the resolution with the state court administrator not later

 

than 4 p.m. of the sixteenth Tuesday preceding the August primary

 

immediately following the effective date of the amendatory act

 

permitting the creation of the new circuit. The state court

 

administrator shall immediately notify the elections division of

 

the department of state with respect to each new judicial circuit

 

and circuit judgeship authorized pursuant to under this subsection.

 

     (2) By proposing a new judicial circuit and 1 or more circuit

 

judgeships for the circuit, the legislature is not creating that

 

circuit or any judgeship in the circuit. If a county, acting

 

through its board of commissioners, approves the creation of a new

 

circuit and 1 or more circuit judgeships proposed by law for that

 

circuit, that approval constitutes an exercise of the county's

 

option to provide a new activity or service or to increase the

 

level of activity or service offered in the county beyond that

 

required by existing law, as the elements of that option are

 

defined by 1979 PA 101, MCL 21.231 to 21.244, and a voluntary

 

acceptance by the county of all expenses and capital improvements

 

which that may result from the creation of the new circuit and each

 

judgeship. However, the exercise of the option does not affect the

 

state's obligation to pay a portion of the circuit judge's or

 

judges' salary as provided by law, or to appropriate and disburse

 

funds to the county for the necessary costs of state requirements

 

established by a state law which becomes effective that takes

 

effect on or after December 23, 1978.

 

     (3) Each circuit judgeship created pursuant to under

 

subsection (1) shall be filled by election pursuant to under the

 

Michigan election law, 1954 PA 116, MCL 168.1 to 168.992. The first

 

term of each circuit judgeship shall be is 6 years, unless the law

 

permitting the creation of the new circuit and 1 or more judgeships

 

provides for a term of a different length.

 

     (4) The reformation of the eleventh, twenty-third, twenty-

 

sixth, thirty-fourth, fiftieth, and fifty-third judicial circuits

 

pursuant to the 2002 amendatory act that added this subsection

 

under 2002 PA 92 does not require the a resolution of approval of

 

by the county board of commissioners under this section or section

 

550.

 

     (5) The division of a circuit or the consolidation of 2 or

 

more circuits that does not result in an increase in the total

 

number of judgeships does not require a resolution of approval by

 

the county board of commissioners under this section or section

 

550.