Senate committee approves bill letting chancery judges fill in on circuit and district dockets

The Wyoming Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday voted to pass House Bill 54, a bill that gives chancery court judges statutory authority to be assigned to district or circuit court cases to assist colleagues, the committee chair said.

Proponents said the change simply extends existing assignment authority that applies to other judges, and the committee adopted cleanup amendments before forwarding the bill to the full Senate.

House Bill 54, introduced as a joint judiciary interim committee bill, adds language to existing statutes to allow a chancery court judge to be assigned to a district or circuit court case when needed “to help out a fellow judge,” Alisa Butler, state court administrator for the Wyoming Judicial Branch, told the committee. “So this just allows for the chancery court judge to do the same,” Butler said.

The bill’s amendments adopted in the House clarified the statute title to read “assignment to circuit court judge or chancery court judge,” and a floor amendment made the law effective immediately rather than delaying implementation until July 1, Butler said. Committee members later offered a minor drafting amendment to make the title and text consistent.

Committee members asked how expenses and pay for judges who come in on assignment would be handled. Butler said district and circuit courts already maintain budgets that include funds for contracting and for retired judges when a local budget is insufficient; there is also a statewide budget line for services such as retired judges. “The salaries for retired judges, right now that sits at what they were an hourly rate of what they were paid when they were when they retired,” Butler said. Sitting judges assigned temporarily to other courts do not receive additional salary dollars under current practice, she said.

Senators pressed whether authorizing retired chancery judges to serve by assignment would circumvent any mandatory retirement rules. Butler and other speakers said it does not change mandatory retirement for district court judges and just treats retired chancery judges the same way other retired judges are used for occasional assignments. The committee heard similar operational questions about how assignments are requested and approved; Butler explained that a judge requests a retired judge from the chief justice, who typically consults an executive committee of the judicial council before issuing an order.

A private citizen, Joey Carrenti, testified in support while suggesting some clarifying language changes, particularly around retirement-age issues and the statute’s title. The committee accepted a drafting amendment offered by Senator Crago to include district court language in the relevant line of the statute, and the committee approved the bill as amended.

On a roll-call vote the committee recorded yes votes from Senators Crago, Crum, Cole and Chairman Olsen and an absentee aye from Senator Hicks; the clerk reported “5 ayes do pass amended.”

The bill references current statutory provisions governing judge assignments and retired-judge appointment; committee discussion cited a statutory provision rendered in the transcript as “5 13 1 16” and a retired-judge authority cited as “5.10.06 subsection F.”

The measure now moves from the Judiciary Committee to the next stage in the Senate process.