A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to increase the maximum amount of emergency superior and special superior court judges that may be listed as active, to increase the maximum amount of emergency district court judges that may be listed as active, to expand the reasons that an emergency judge may be assigned, and to reallocate certain district court judgeships to make more efficient use of court resources.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 7A‑52 reads as rewritten:
"§ 7A‑52.  Retired district and superior court judges may become emergency judges subject to recall to active service; compensation for emergency judges on recall.
(a)	Judges of the district court and judges of the superior court who have not reached the mandatory retirement age specified in G.S. 7A‑4.20, but who have retired under the provisions of G.S. 7A‑51, or under the Uniform Judicial Retirement Act after having completed five years of creditable service, may apply as provided in G.S. 7A‑53 to become emergency judges of the court from which they retired. From the commissioned emergency district, superior, and special superior court judges, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall create two lists of active emergency judges and two lists of inactive emergency judges. For emergency superior and special superior court judges, the active list shall be limited to a combined total of 15 emergency judges; all other emergency superior and special superior court judges shall be on an inactive list. For emergency district court judges, the active list shall be limited to 35 emergency judges; all other emergency district court judges shall be on an inactive list. There is no limit to the number of emergency judges on either inactive list. In the Chief Justice's discretion, emergency judges may be added or removed from their respective active and inactive lists, as long as the respective numerical limits on the active lists are observed. The Chief Justice is requested to consider geographical distribution in assigning emergency judges to an active list but may utilize any factor in determining which emergency judges are assigned to an active list. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court may order any emergency district, superior, or special superior court judge on an active list who, in his opinion, is competent to perform the duties of a judge, to hold regular or special sessions of the court from which the judge retired, as needed. Order of assignment shall be in writing and entered upon the minutes of the court to which such emergency judge is assigned. An emergency judge shall only be assigned in the event of a:
(1)	Death of a sitting judge.
(2)	Disability of a sitting judge.
(3)	Recall to active military duty of a sitting judge.
(4)	Retirement or removal of a sitting judge.
(5)	Court case‑management emergency.
(6)	Assignment by the Chief Justice of a Rule 2.1 exceptional case to an emergency judge.
(7)	Court coverage need created by holdover sessions, conflict case sessions, or judicial administrative or educational responsibilities.
(a1)	Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, an emergency judge of the superior court may be recalled to active service by the Chief Justice and assigned to hear and decide complex business cases if, at the time of the judge's retirement, all of the following conditions are met:
(1)	The judge is a special superior court judge who is retiring from a term to which the judge was appointed pursuant to G.S. 7A‑45.1.
(2)	The judge is retiring from a term for which the judge was assigned by the Chief Justice to hear and decide complex business cases as a business court judge pursuant to G.S. 7A‑45.3.
(3)	The judge's nomination to serve a successive term in the same office is pending before the General Assembly, or was not acted upon by the General Assembly prior to adjournment sine die.
(4)	If confirmed and appointed to the successive term of office for which nominated, the judge would reach mandatory retirement age before completing that term of office.
An emergency judge assigned to hear and decide complex business cases pursuant to this subsection shall be designated by the Chief Justice as a senior business court judge and shall be eligible to serve in that capacity for five years from the issuance date of the judge's commission under G.S. 7A‑53 or until the judge's commission expires, whichever occurs first. Order of assignment shall be in writing and entered upon the minutes of the court to which such emergency judge is assigned. An emergency judge assigned to hear and decide complex business cases shall not be counted in the combined total of active emergency superior and special superior court judges described in subsection (a) of this section.
…."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 7A‑133(a) 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	4	Camden
			Chowan
			Currituck
			Dare
			Gates
			Pasquotank
			Perquimans
	2	4	Martin
			Beaufort
			Tyrrell
			Hyde
			Washington
	3A	5	Pitt
	3B	6	Craven
			Pamlico
			Carteret
	4	9	Sampson
			Duplin
			Jones
			Onslow
	5	8	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	2	(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	9	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.
…
(b8)	Subject to the provisions of this subsection, the qualified voters of District 4 shall elect all nine judges established for District 4 in subsection (a) of this section, but only persons who reside in Sampson County and otherwise meet the requirements to hold the office of district court judge may be candidates for the one judgeship added to District 4 that begins on January 1, 2021, following elections in November of 2020.
(b9)	Subject to the provisions of this subsection, the qualified voters of Union County shall elect the one judgeship added to District 20B that begins on January 1, 2021, following elections in November 2020."
SECTION 3.  The district court judgeship taken from District 1 under Section 2 of this act shall be transferred to District 4 to compose the judgeship added to District 4 under Section 2 of this act. The judgeship transferred from District 1 to District 4 shall be the judgeship currently held by Judge Barnes in District 1.
SECTION 4.  The district court judgeship taken from District 5 under Section 2 of this act shall be transferred to District 20B under Section 2 of this act. The judgeship transferred from District 5 to District 20B shall be the judgeship currently held by Judge Ray in District 5.
SECTION 5.  Section 1 of this act becomes effective October 1, 2019. Section 2 of this act becomes effective January 1, 2021, and elections conducted in 2020 shall be conducted in accordance with the judgeships transferred in Section 2 of this act. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.