State lawmakers are considering legislation that would move Banks County out of the Piedmont Judicial Circuit into the Mountain Judicial Circuit.
The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday on Senate Bill 259. Sen. Bo Hatchett (R-Cornelia) sponsored the bill. If approved, the measure would transfer all legal proceedings pending in Banks County Superior Court to the Mountain Judicial Circuit, effective November 1, 2023. It would also change Banks County’s court calendar to align with the new circuit’s.
State Representative Chris Erwin (R-Homer) sponsored similar legislation in the House, but it got stalled in committee.
Hatchett says he filed his bill “as an insurance policy” to move the matter forward.
“The State Representative and other elected officials contacted me about bringing Banks into the Mountain Judicial Circuit long ago,” Hatchett tells Now Habersham. “The benefit to our circuit would be increased funding, and the benefit to Banks County would be membership in a circuit that better mirrors its own population.”
Piedmont Circuit judges oppose the move
Currently, Banks County is in the same circuit as Barrow and Jackson counties. If lawmakers approve SB 259, Banks would move into the same circuit as Habersham, Rabun, and Stephens counties.
Senator Hatchett and Rep. Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia), who co-sponsored Erwin’s bill, say SB 259 has strong support from within the Mountain Circuit.
“All counties and departments involved in our circuit are agreeable to this change,” says Anderson.
Not so in the Piedmont Circuit.
“All of the Piedmont Circuit judges are opposed to the proposed move by Banks County to the Mountain Circuit,” Chief Judge Joseph Booth tells Now Habersham.
The Piedmont Circuit justices opposed a similar proposal in 2017. At that time, then-Chief Judge David Motes told Banks County commissioners that moving the county into another circuit was not in the citizens’ best interest. “We’re concerned about what this will cost the citizens of Banks County and how that will impact them,” he said. Judge Motes has since retired. Local lawmakers did not sponsor legislation to make the change. Former Rep. Dan Gasaway said more time was needed to study the issue.
Five years later, Anderson says no feasibility study has been conducted, but he adds it’s not required.
“The Judicial Council does look at these matters. They will only make recommendations if there are problems. I do not have the information from their review, but there were no issues presented,” he says.
Asked what has changed in the past five years, Anderson says the “biggest changes are in representation and leadership in the General Assembly.”
Anderson, Erwin, and Hatchett have all been elected since 2017.
Change and impacts
Another significant change is that the Mountain Judicial Circuit now has three judges.
During last year’s legislative session, Sen. Hatchett successfully pushed through a bill to add another judge to the circuit to help with the heavy caseload.
A third judge, Bill Oliver, was sworn in on December 6, 2022.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last year, Hatchett cited findings of the Judicial Workload Assessment Committee that said the Mountain Circuit was third in the state in terms of needing a new judge to handle its caseload. Asked whether adding Banks County to the circuit would impede efforts to resolve the case backlog, Hatchett indicates it would not. Having three judges makes the move “feasible,” he says, but he insists it wasn’t planned that way.
“We’ve been trying to get a new judge for 30 years. They were two separate things.”
According to Hatchett, Banks County makes up 10% of the Piedmont Circuit workload. If his bill passes, all of the affected counties would have to enter into intergovernmental agreements (IGAs). The IGAs would spell out salaries and expenses for judges and district attorneys, provide for the transfer of any court fines or forfeitures from Banks County to the new circuit, and cover retirement costs.
The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday, March 20, at 1:30 p.m. at the state Capitol. To view a live stream of the meeting, click here.
