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Committee advances bill mandating dedicated municipal calendars after cities warn of prosecutorial breakdown
Summary
House Bill 366, which would require presiding judges to assign at least one district-court judge for municipal cases and limit assignments relative to caseload, passed the committee unanimously after extensive testimony from city prosecutors who said recent court reassignments forced some cities to stop filing class A misdemeanors and harmed victims and defendants.
House Bill 366 was unanimously recommended by the Senate Government Operations Committee after a day of contentious testimony in which city prosecutors, public-defender representatives and court administrators described competing operational pressures.
Sponsor testimony framed the bill as a restoration of a longstanding accommodation: the requirement that presiding judges assign at least one district-court judge to hear municipal cases and that such cases be heard in the courthouse closest to the municipality unless there is good cause otherwise. Under the draft language…
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