A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to increase the number of superior court and district court judges in onslow, jones, duplin, and sampson counties, TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF DISTRICT COURT JUDGES IN BURKE, CALDWELL, AND CATAWBA COUNTIES, and to APPROPRIATE funds.
Whereas, the most recent available data of the judicial branch workload formula developed by the Administrative Office of the Courts indicates that the superior court district containing Onslow, Jones, Duplin, and Sampson counties needs one additional superior court judgeship; and
Whereas, the same data indicates that the district court district containing the same counties needs two additional district court judgeships; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 7A‑41(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The counties of the State are organized into judicial divisions and superior court districts, and each superior court district has the counties, and the number of regular resident superior court judges set forth in the following table, and for districts of less than a whole county, as set out in subsection (b) of this section:
	Superior
Judicial	Court		No. of Resident
Division	District	Counties	Judges
__________________________________________________________________________
First	1	Camden, Chowan,	2
Currituck,
Dare, Gates,
		Pasquotank,
Perquimans
First	2	Beaufort, Hyde,	1
	Martin,
	Tyrrell, Washington
First	3A	Pitt	2
Second	3B	Carteret, Craven,	3
	Pamlico
Second	4	Duplin, Jones,	3
	Onslow, Sampson
Second	5A	(part of New Hanover,	1
	Pender
	see subsection (b))	5
	5B	(part of New Hanover,	1
	see subsection (b))
	5C	(part of New Hanover,	1
	see subsection (b))
First	6A	Halifax	1
First	6B	Bertie, Hertford,	1
	Northampton
First	7A	Nash	1
First	7B	(part of Wilson,	1
	part of Edgecombe,
	see subsection (b))
First	7C	(part of Wilson,	1
	part of Edgecombe,
	see subsection (b))
Second	8A	Lenoir and Greene	1
Second	8B	Wayne	1
First	9	Franklin, Granville,	2
	Person, Vance, Warren
Third	10A	(part of Wake,	1
	see subsection (b))
Third	10B	(part of Wake,	1
	see subsection (b))
Third	10C	(part of Wake,	1
	see subsection (b))
Third	10D	(part of Wake,	1
	see subsection (b))
Third	10E	(part of Wake,	1
	see subsection (b))
Third	10F	(part of Wake,	1
	see subsection (b))
Third	11A	Harnett,	1
	Lee
Third	11B	Johnston	1
Third	12A	(part of Cumberland,	1
	see subsection (b))
Third	12B	(part of Cumberland,	1
	see subsection (b))
Third	12C	(part of Cumberland,	2
	see subsection (b))
Second	13A	Bladen, Columbus	1
Second	13B	Brunswick	1
First	14A	(part of Durham,	1
	see subsection (b))
First	14B	(part of Durham,	3
	see subsection (b))
Third	15A	Alamance	2
Fourth	15B	Orange, Chatham	2
Third	16A	Anson, Richmond,	2
	Scotland
Second	16B	Robeson	2
Fourth	17A	Caswell, Rockingham	2
Fourth	17B	Stokes, Surry	1
Fourth	18A	(part of Guilford,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fourth	18B	(part of Guilford,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fourth	18C	(part of Guilford,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fourth	18D	(part of Guilford,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fourth	18E	(part of Guilford,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fourth	19A	Cabarrus	1
Third	19B	Randolph	2
Fourth	19C	Rowan	1
Third	19D	Hoke, Moore	2
Third	20A	Montgomery, Stanly	2
Third	20B	Union	2
Fourth	21A	(part of Forsyth,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fourth	21B	(part of Forsyth,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fourth	21C	(part of Forsyth,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fourth	21D	(part of Forsyth,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fourth	22A	Alexander, Iredell	2
Fourth	22B	Davidson, Davie	2
Fourth	23	Alleghany, Ashe,	1
	Wilkes, Yadkin
Fifth	24	Avery, Madison,	2
	Mitchell,
	Watauga, Yancey
Fifth	25A	Burke, Caldwell	2
Fifth	25B	Catawba	2
Fifth	26A	(part of Mecklenburg,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fifth	26B	(part of Mecklenburg,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fifth	26C	(part of Mecklenburg,	1
	see subsection (b))
	26D	(part of Mecklenburg,	1
	see subsection (b))
	26E	(part of Mecklenburg,	1
	see subsection (b))
	26F	(part of Mecklenburg,	1
	see subsection (b))
	26G	(part of Mecklenburg,	1
	see subsection (b))
	26H	(part of Mecklenburg,	1
	see subsection (b))
Fifth	27A	Gaston	2
Fifth	27B	Cleveland, Lincoln	2
Fifth	28	Buncombe	2
Fifth	29A	McDowell,	1
	Rutherford
Fifth	29B	Henderson, Polk,	1
	Transylvania
Fifth	30A	Cherokee, Clay,	1
	Graham, Macon,
	Swain
Fifth	30B	Haywood, Jackson	1."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 7A‑133(a) reads as rewritten:
"(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	10	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))
	10A	3	(part of Wake
			see subsection (b))
	10B	3	(part of Wake
			see subsection (b))
	10C	3	(part of Wake
			see subsection (b))
	10D	6	(part of Wake
			see subsection (b))
	10E	3	(part of Wake
			see subsection (b))
	10F	3	(part of Wake
			see subsection (b))
	11	11	Harnett
			Johnston
			Lee
	12	10	Cumberland
	13	6	Bladen
			Brunswick
			Columbus
	14	7	Durham
	15A	4	Alamance
	15B	5	Orange
			Chatham
	16A	4	Scotland
			Anson
			Richmond
	16B	5	Robeson
	17A	4	Caswell
			Rockingham
	17B	4	Stokes
			Surry
	18	14	Guilford
	19A	5	Cabarrus
	19B	5	Randolph
	19C	5	Rowan
	19D	4	Hoke, Moore
	20A	3	Montgomery, 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
	25	10	Burke
			Caldwell
			Catawba
	26A	3	(part of
			 Mecklenburg
			see subsection (b))
	26B	3	(part of 
			Mecklenburg
			see subsection (b))
	26C	2	(part of 
			Mecklenburg
			see subsection (b))
	26D	2	(part of 
			Mecklenburg
			see subsection (b))
	26E	3	(part of 
			Mecklenburg
			see subsection (b))
	26F	3	(part of 
			Mecklenburg
			see subsection (b))
	26G	2	(part of 
			Mecklenburg
			see subsection (b))
	26H	3	(part of 
			Mecklenburg
			see subsection (b))
	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 2.5.  Only persons who reside in Burke or Caldwell County may be candidates for the judgeship created in District 25 by Section 2 of this act.
SECTION 3.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts the sum of four hundred forty‑seven thousand seven hundred ninety‑six dollars ($447,796) for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year.
SECTION 4.  Sections 1 and 2 of this act become effective January 1, 2021, and elections conducted in 2020 shall be conducted in accordance with the judgeships created in those sections. Section 3 of this act becomes effective July 1, 2020. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.