HB 4447 Summary

• Changes judicial salary language from "shall" to "must" throughout the Revised Judicature Act for consistency in statutory drafting.

• Effective October 1, 2021, shifts circuit judge, probate judge, and district judge salaries to be fully funded by the state at 85%, 85%, and 84% respectively of the December 31, 2015 supreme court justice salary, eliminating the previous $45,724.00 county reimbursement requirement.

• Allows judges to receive additional optional salaries determined by county boards of commissioners beginning October 1, 2021, paid directly by counties rather than through state reimbursement.

• Eliminates the state reimbursement system under which counties paid judges a fixed $45,724.00 and the state reimbursed those amounts; judges covered under section 822 (certain probate judges) will receive state-funded salaries equal to their 2020-2021 fiscal year earnings.

• Maintains the existing cost-of-living adjustment mechanism based on civil service executive and administrator pay increases for all judge categories.