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Judiciary committee urges state to assume leftover district judge salary costs and asks DCRAB to study retained‑share formulas
Summary
As part of its legislative study, the committee recommended the state pick up remaining district judge salary costs (estimated at about $4 million), asked DCRAB to evaluate judicial allocations and courtroom security/training, and recommended reviewing the Administration of Justice Fund for possible re‑budgeting of some recipients into central services.
The committee voted to include a set of recommendations in its legislative study aiming to reorganize how district court funding is distributed. Chair Dolby said the report should recommend that the state assume the remaining cost cities and counties currently pick up toward district judge salaries, a gap witnesses and members estimated at roughly $3.9–4.0 million under the current transition to state district judges.
Ben Barham of the Administrative Office of the Courts explained the statutory composition and membership of the District Court Allocation/Reassessment Board (DCRAB/Scribe) and said DCRAB will meet in September to review whether judicial districts should be reorganized, whether small departments should be consolidated for efficiency, and to bring recommendations back to the legislature. Blake Gary of the Arkansas Municipal League emphasized the complexity of retained‑share formulas and urged further study before any formula change such as a uniform '50/50' split is adopted.
Members also recommended a review of the Administration of Justice (AOJ) Fund, noting the fund currently supports many entities (testimony cited about two dozen) and that some of those entities might be better funded through the state general budget. Representative Gazzaway moved to include the AOJ review in the report; the motion passed by voice vote. The committee additionally voted to encourage the judicial branch to develop automated electronic notifications (text or message alerts) to reduce failures to appear.
What happens next: DCRAB/Scribe will study reallocation and report back; committee staff will draft report language on the state assumption of salaries, retained‑share study, AOJ fund review, and encouragement of electronic notification systems.
