HB 556 Summary

• Abolishes the Trumbull County County Court effective January 1, 2013, and establishes a Trumbull County Municipal Court to replace it.

• The new municipal court has jurisdiction throughout Trumbull County except in the municipal corporations of Girard, McDonald, Newton Falls, Niles, and Warren and specified townships (Bloomfield, Braceville, Bristol, Champion, Farmington, Howland, Hubbard, Liberty, Lordstown, Mesopotamia, Newton, Southington, Vienna, Warren, and Weathersfield).

• Judges of the Trumbull County Municipal Court shall be nominated by petition only, requiring signatures from at least 50 electors of the court's territory.

• Transfers all pending cases, records, employees, and property from the county court to the municipal court effective January 1, 2013.

• A full-time judge shall be elected in 2013, with the part-time county court judge elected in 2010 serving as a full-time municipal court judge until December 31, 2013.