Committee approves bill adding judicial officers to Hamilton County

Representative Seidrick presented House Bill 1144 to the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee, asking members to approve the creation of additional judicial officers for Hamilton County based on caseload growth tracked by the Indiana Supreme Court.

Seidrick said the interim courts and judiciary committee reviewed requests for new courts using the Supreme Court’s biennial caseload summaries and recommended a net-neutral reallocation of judges where counties have excess capacity to address counties with growing demand. Hamilton County, Seidrick said, is at the top of the needs list and the bill would add four full-time judicial officers — two magistrates and two elected judges — to take office in 2027.

The committee asked no substantive questions and no outside witnesses were signed up to testify. Members moved to pass the bill and the roll call reflected passage, recorded as "130" in committee.

The sponsor said the committee’s interim recommendation included reallocating officers from counties with excess judges to those with growth; the bill would implement additions in Hamilton County to address projected caseloads over the coming years.