A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to align the District Court and prosecutorial Districts to the Superior Court Districts In District 25.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  G.S. 7A‑133 reads as rewritten:
"§ 7A‑133.  Numbers of judges by districts; numbers of magistrates and additional seats of court, by counties.
(a)	Each district court district shall have the numbers of judges as set forth in the following table:
District	Judges	County
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
1	5	Camden
	Chowan
	Currituck
	Dare
	Gates
	Pasquotank
	Perquimans
2	4	Martin
	Beaufort
	Tyrrell
	Hyde
	Washington
3A	5	Pitt
3B	6	Craven
	Pamlico
	Carteret
4	8	Sampson
	Duplin
	Jones
	Onslow
5	9	New Hanover
	Pender
6	4	Northampton
	Bertie
	Hertford
	Halifax
7	7	Nash
	Edgecombe
	Wilson
8	6	Wayne
	Greene
	Lenoir
9	5	Granville
	(part of Vance
	see subsection (b))
	Franklin
	Person
9B	2	Warren
	(part of Vance
	see subsection (b))
10	19	Wake
11	11	Harnett
	Johnston
	Lee
12	10	Cumberland
13	6	Bladen
	Brunswick
	Columbus
14	7	Durham
15A	4	Alamance
15B	5	Orange
	Chatham
16A	6	Scotland
	Hoke
	Anson
	Richmond
16B	5	Robeson
17A	4	Caswell
	Rockingham
17B	4	Stokes
	Surry
18	14	Guilford
19A	5	Cabarrus
19B	7	Montgomery
	Moore
	Randolph
19C	5	Rowan
20A	2	Stanly
20B	1	(part of Union
	see subsection (b))
20C	2	(part of Union
	see subsection (b))
20D	1	Union
21	11	Forsyth
22A	5	Alexander
	Iredell
22B	6	Davidson
	Davie
23	4	Alleghany
	Ashe
	Wilkes
	Yadkin
24	4	Avery
	Madison
	Mitchell
	Watauga
	Yancey
25A	2	Burke
	Caldwell
25B	8	Catawba
26	21	Mecklenburg
27A	7	Gaston
27B	6	Cleveland
	Lincoln
28	7	Buncombe
29A	3	McDowell
	Rutherford
29B	4	Henderson
	Polk
	Transylvania
30	6	Cherokee
	Clay
	Graham
	Haywood
	Jackson
	Macon
	Swain.
…."
SECTION 1.(b)  Notwithstanding G.S. 7A‑133(a), upon each of the first three district court judgeship vacancies occurring in District Court District 25B due to death, resignation, removal, or retirement of a person who is a resident of Catawba County holding a judgeship on the effective date of this section shall be filled according to law. However, at the next general election held for that judgeship, only persons who reside in District 25A, as enacted by this act, may be candidates for that district court judgeship and any primary associated with that general election shall also be held accordingly.
SECTION 1.(c)  Upon each of the first three district court judgeship vacancies occurring in District Court District 25B due to the death, resignation, removal, or retirement of a person who is a resident of Catawba County holding a judgeship on the effective date of this section, the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts shall provide written notice of the vacancy to the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement and to the Revisor of Statutes. The State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement shall ensure that only persons who reside in District Court District 25A, as enacted by this act, may file as candidates for the judgeship at the next general election held for that judgeship. The Revisor of Statutes shall revise the language of G.S. 7A‑133(a) to reflect the changed number of judges in Districts 25A and 25B.
SECTION 1.(d)  On January 15, 2030, if the provisions of this section have not resulted in the modification of G.S. 7A‑133(a) to reflect that five judges each serve in Districts 25A and 25B, as enacted by this act, the Revisor of Statutes shall revise the language of G.S. 7A‑133(a) to so reflect and the elections of 2030 shall be held in accordance with the revised statute.
SECTION 1.(e)  The additional judge in District 25A, as established by subsection (a) of this section, shall take office on January 1, 2021, with an election in 2020 to be held accordingly.
SECTION 2.(a)  G.S. 7A‑60 reads as rewritten:
"§ 7A‑60.  District attorneys and prosecutorial districts.
(a)	The State shall be divided into prosecutorial districts, as shown in subsection (a1) of this section. There shall be a district attorney for each prosecutorial district, as provided in subsections (b) and (c) of this section who shall be a resident of the prosecutorial district for which elected. A vacancy in the office of district attorney shall be filled as provided in Article IV, Sec. 19 of the Constitution.
…
(a1)	(Effective January 1, 2019) The counties of the State are organized into prosecutorial districts, and each district has the counties and the number of full‑time assistant district attorneys set forth in the following table:
	No. of Full‑Time
Prosecutorial	Asst. District
District	Counties	Attorneys
1	Camden, Chowan, Currituck,	11
	Dare, Gates, Pasquotank,
	Perquimans
2	Beaufort, Hyde, Martin,	8
	Tyrrell, Washington
3	Pitt	12
4	Carteret, Craven, Pamlico	13
5	Duplin, Jones, Onslow, Sampson	19
6	New Hanover, Pender	19
7	Bertie, Halifax, Hertford,	11
	Northampton
8	Edgecombe, Nash, Wilson	19
9	Greene, Lenoir, Wayne	14
10	Franklin, Granville, Person	13
	Vance, Warren
11	Wake	42
12	Harnett, Lee	11
13	Johnston	10
14	Cumberland	25
15	Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus	14
16	Durham	18
17	Alamance	12
18	Orange, Chatham	10
19	Scotland, Hoke	7
20	Robeson	12
21	Anson, Richmond	6
22	Caswell, Rockingham	10
23	Stokes, Surry	8
24	Guilford	34
25	Cabarrus	9
26	Montgomery, Randolph	10
27	Rowan	9
28	Moore	5
29	Stanly	5
30	Union	11
31	Forsyth	27
32	Alexander, Iredell	12
33	Davidson, Davie	12
34	Alleghany, Ashe, Wilkes, Yadkin	9
35	Avery, Madison, Mitchell,	8
	Watauga, Yancey
		
36A	Burke, Caldwell	10
36B	Catawba	9
37	Mecklenburg	58
38	Gaston	15
39	Cleveland, Lincoln	12
40	Buncombe	14
41	McDowell, Rutherford	8
42	Henderson, Polk, Transylvania	9
43	Cherokee, Clay, Graham,	12
	Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain.
…."
SECTION 2.(b)  This section becomes effective January 1, 2023, with an election in 2022 to be held accordingly.
SECTION 3.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.