North Carolina’s 30th Judicial District could be split in half by a new bill in the state House of Representatives and many regional leaders believe it would be for the best.
The 30th Judicial District includes Macon, Clay, Graham, Cherokee, Swain, Jackson and Haywood counties, making it one of the physically largest districts in the state. House Bill 405 would divide the district into 30A for Macon, Clay, Graham and Cherokee counties and 30B for Swain, Jackson and Haywood counties, similar to how they are divided for superior court, and adds funding for two new district court judges and two new assistant district attorneys for Macon County’s new district. House District 119 representative Mike Clampitt, the bill’s primary sponsor, says that the current district doesn’t have adequate resources and that affected individuals, especially children in the foster care system, suffer as a result.
“The 30th Judicial District of North Carolina operates with outdated structures and policies including low parent counsel payment, a high number of counties included in the district and insufficient number of court days per county, all of which contribute to an extremely high continuance rate, which forces foster care cases to remain open far beyond acceptable timeframes,” Clampitt said.
The bill was introduced in the House on March 24 and has picked up steam with other officials in the affected area. Steve Odom, chair of the Graham County Republican Party, has been a prominent advocate for the bill, arguing that not only has the population and caseload grown significantly across the district, but that smaller counties are getting the short end of the stick with the resources that are available.
“Five of the six district court judges now reside in Haywood County. Judge [Tessa Shelton] Sellers is the lone judge from the western portions of the district,” reads a letter of support Odom sent out last month. “The size of Haywood County greatly exceeds the other counties in the district creating an imbalance in resources, especially with regard to court time.”
District 120 representative Karl Gillespie is still making up his mind on the matter and evaluating data as it comes in. However, he agrees that his constituents need to feel heard by the state court system and he hopes that debate on the bill will yield results for them.
“It is apparent there are several items that need to be addressed, some of which include more court days, low continuance rates and increased pay for court appointed counsel,” Gillespie said. “At the end of the day, the constituents that are the most affected by these issues want to ensure their voices are heard and I want to be their voice to make certain that the decision we make best serves the constituents that have been most impacted.”
The last action on the bill was its referral to the House’s second judiciary committee on March 29. The full text of the bill is available to read online at ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2021/H405.