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Friday, February 09, 2007

Ind. Courts - Three St. Joe County judges write on legislative proposal to make changes in county judiciary

The South Bend Tribune today has a very long opinion piece signed by: Michael G. Gotsch, the St. Joseph Circuit Court judge; Peter J. Nemeth, the St. Joseph Probate judge; and John Marnocha, the chief judge of the St. Joseph Superior Court. Some quotes:

Recently, a bill was introduced in the Indiana General Assembly to remove the juvenile cases from the Probate Court and assign them to the Circuit Court, elect the judges of the Superior Court and appoint the judge of Circuit Court as the chief judge of the Superior Court. Although introduced with the intention of reforming the local court system, we believe the HB 1571 will have far-reaching and unfortunate consequences. * * *

In an editorial on Jan. 31, The Tribune Editorial Board indicated that it opposes the current version of the bill. We agree -- any reforms to the local court system should occur only after consultation with the local judiciary and a comprehensive study by the Commission on Courts. We encourage anyone who favors an impartial and independent judiciary to oppose HB 1571.

The ILB has posted two previous entires on HB 1571, on Jan. 24th and Jan. 25th.

At that time, HB 1571 was not available online. It is now available. A check shows that the Speaker of the House, B. Patrick Bauer, also from South Bend, referred it to the Committee on Rules and Legislative Procedures. Such an assignment often means the bill is DOA, or at least will merit a special look.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 9, 2007 10:02 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts