By SARAH ROSS

Photo by s_falkow/Flickr.com

SALEM, Ore.- An overworked court system has led lawmakers to seek additional judges for the state’s Court of Appeals to help with its current caseload.

Among the first bills heard in one of the first committee meetings of the 2012 legislative session, members of the House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a proposal to add six new judges to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Currently, the court has ten judges, a number it has kept steady for the past 35 years, according to Representative Matt Wand, R-Troutdale.

In the committee hearing, Wand called this 35-year period without any more judges “embarrassing.”

“One of the things we have to do is keep in mind the core functions of government,” he said, quoting the legal phrase, “justice delayed is justice denied.”

The approved bill would add three judges to the court in 2013 and the remaining three in 2015.

However, with a large budget deficit and cuts to every department including the judicial branch, whether or not legislators are willing to add six more judges is a question.

One committee member, Portland Democratic Representative Mary Nolan, cautioned the members on approving an amendment to add an additional three judges to the original three that were included in the bill.

“I think adding three more judges makes it much less likely the bill proceeds,” said Nolan, also a member of the legislature’s Ways and Means Committee. Nolan was the only member voting against the amendment which would bring the total number of additional Court of Appeals judges to six.

Yet, the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to pass the proposed bill, with the amendment, on to the Joint Ways and Means committee which controls funding powers for the legislature.

Lane County Circuit Court Judge Karsten Rasmussen told Oregon Capitol News that workload studies done on the Court have shown that it has one of the highest workloads of any Appellate Court in the United States.

“It is an incredibly hardworking court, and it is badly under-judged,” said Rasmussen. “It’s very clear that this court needs more judges to deal with its workload.”

Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, said in an e-mail to Oregon Capitol News that the Court of Appeals caseload is “brutal,” with over 400 cases for each Appellate Court judge.

“An unquestionable need exists for more judges,” wrote Whitsett. “The only question is how to pay for the additional cost during this period of severe revenue shortfall.

Rasmussen said that the Court of Appeals has been “constantly overlooked” in the criminal and civil justice systems and, despite the budgetary times, this fact “needs to be remedied.”

Wand ended his statement to the committee by saying that there was surely room in the state budget for more appellate court judges, proposing money be taken from other areas like advertising.

Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals C.J. Brewer testified before the committee, discussing the workload and the need for the additional judges.

Before becoming law, the bill would need approval from the Ways and Means committee as well as full votes in both the House and the Senate. Only then could it move to Governor John Kitzhaber for final approval.