Thurston County will get 9th Superior Court judge by November
Correction: The Washington state governor will appoint the new Superior Court judge by November. A previous version of this article erroneously suggested the county would appoint the judge.
Thurston County will get a ninth Superior Court judge by November following the approval of a state bill that authorizes the addition.
Gov. Jay Inslee signed HB 1167 into law on April 16. The bill passed the House on April 3 with 97 yeas and one excused. The Senate passed the bill on April 7 with 48 yeas and one nay from Sen. Doug Erickson of Whatcom County.
Superior Court Judge Erik Price noted the success of the bill during a county elected officials meeting on Wednesday and thanked the bill’s sponsors, Reps. Jessica Bateman and Laurie Dolan of Olympia, and David Hackney of King County.
“I’m very excited about that and excited that it got through the legislature with the really important help from representatives Bateman and Dolan,” Price said. “Some of the other representatives were very supportive as well.”
Price said the new judge is greatly needed, but it will be difficult finding space for them by November.
“The challenge is going to be where do we put the ninth person?” Price said. “That’s a nice problem to have but it’s still a problem and we’re figuring that out over the next few months.”
While the governor will appoint the first person to fill the judgeship, the position will be up for election in 2022, he said. The county and state will each fund half the cost for the new position.
Thurston County’s sheer caseload makes it one of the most understaffed counties in the state, Bateman said during a Jan. 26 hearing.
“Currently the court needs 13.95 judicial officers and only has 11, leaving it far short of the 2.95 officers that it needs,” Bateman said.
At that time, Bateman also said the ninth judge would help the court handle its increasing backlog of cases that have been delayed by COVID-19 restrictions.
Since then, the situation has been complicated further by the consequential State v. Blake decision, which found the state’s simple drug possession law unconstitutional because it criminalized passive, unknowing conduct.
As a result of that decision, the court will have to resentence hundreds of cases at a time when it is still trying to address its current backlog.
This story was originally published April 23, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
