SB90 Summary

• Establishes the Judicial Resources Allocation Commission as a permanent study commission composed of the Chief Justice (chair), Governor's legal advisor, Attorney General, three circuit judges, three district judges, and three licensed attorneys with staggered terms of 3-5 years.

• Commission must annually review the need for increasing or decreasing judgeships in district and circuit courts using criteria including Judicial Weighted Caseload Study, population data, judicial duties, and case accounting uniformity, then rank courts and provide list to Governor and Legislature within 30 days.

• Authorizes Commission to reallocate a judgeship to another district or circuit only upon vacancy due to death, retirement, resignation, removal, or when incumbent judge reaches constitutional age limit, with 30-day timeframe and two-thirds vote requirement.

• Prohibits reallocation if it would move a district or circuit into the ten most-needed areas and requires each county to maintain at least one district judge; limits each circuit to losing no more than one judgeship per two-year period.

• Requires Alabama Supreme Court to revise Judicial Weighted Caseload Study factors by January 1, 2018 to account for criminal cases by counts, and prohibits any reallocations until three years of revised data is available.