Judicial redistricting plan delayed until next year
Lawmakers left state Capitol without reaching an agreement on a judicial redistricting plan although the goal was to try to craft a plan and have it in place for this year’s judicial races.
State law gives lawmakers until the end of 2015 to adopt a judicial redistricting plan they’d hoped to have done before they left the Capitol earlier this month.
They couldn’t reach an agreement despite the goal to craft a plan and have it in place for this year’s county, chancery and circuit judge races.
Senate Judicial A Chairman Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, said Monday that he hopes they can work on a judicial redistricting bill early in the 2015 Legislature, which begins in January. If lawmakers fail to adopt a plan by the end of 2015, it will be left to the state Supreme Court to devise a judicial redistrictng plan.
“If we decide to simply add judges, we could have a special election in the fall of next year for those judges,” Hopson said.
Clarion Ledger
4/14/14
Magnolia Tribune
