Bill abolishing court positions passes Indiana Senate

Eleven mostly rural counties will lose judges under a bill passed 33-16 by the Indiana Senate on Tuesday.

House Bill 1144—which adds judges and magistrates in Elkhart, Hamilton, Lawrence and Vigo counties—had moved through this year’s entire legislative session without language abolishing courts.

Then, on April 10, hours before a committee deadline, an amendment was added in the Senate Appropriations Committee eliminating one court each in Blackford, Carroll, Gibson, Greene, Jennings, Monroe, Newton, Owen, Pulaski, Rush and Scott counties, along with six juvenile magistrate positions in Marion County.

This provision is estimated to save the state approximately $748,885 in fiscal year 2027 and up to $2.75 million in fiscal year 2032, according to a fiscal analysis.

Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, said constituents in her district, District 42, were shocked by the move. The district covers Shelby, Rush, Henry, Fayette, Decatur, Franklin and Ripley counties.

“That created quite a frenzy from the people that maybe should have been expecting it. I don’t know, but they weren’t expecting it,” she said.

Leising tried unsuccessfully to add her judges back into the bill on Monday. She voted against the proposal.

She said she knows the courts were chosen based on caseload statistics but she wished the list had been made public earlier in the process.

“I would just hope that in the future when things like this are done that maybe it was a more open process so those counties can come speak up,” Leising said. “If a county now has two judges and you do away with one of them, it’s a tremendous impact.”

The general idea of reallocation was discussed in a study committee in October 2024. Essentially, Indiana uses a weighted caseload study that assesses how much judicial time is needed for different types of cases. Then it looks at how many cases are filed to determine how many judges and magistrates are needed for the caseload.

For years lawmakers have added state-funded court officers when the statistics have shown more judges are needed to handle additional cases. But as population has shifted away from some rural counties, they have never taken a judge away—even if the weighted caseload shows they have too many court officers.

Sen. Liz Brown said every two years the study committee looks at the need for court officers when lawmakers are crafting a new state budget. That’s because the state pays for the salaries of judges and magistrates—currently about $183,000 and $146,000, respectively.

Brown said “courts that are losing a judge, we looked at them on their own, independently, and said there is not sufficient need here.”

The weighted caseload study shows, for instance, that Monroe County has 10 judges but only needs 7.87. Blackford County has two judges but the study shows it needs less than one.

The bill goes back to the House, where court abolishments were not originally part of the measure. That chamber can either accept the changes or send the bill to conference committee for final negotiations.