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Bill to add a judge to Cleveland County heads to Oklahoma Senate
May 15, 2012
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: An Oklahoma House of Representatives committee has passed a version of House Bill 2440, a bill that would add a district judge position to Cleveland County. The House Redistricting Committee passed the bill by a 16-11 vote, and it will now move on for a vote by the Oklahoma Senate.[1]
Supporters of the bill claim that it would "add a badly needed district judge post" to Cleveland County. This would be accomplished at no additional cost to taxpayers by shifting a vacant judgeship from Seminole County, which has one district judge for every 6,100 residents, to Cleveland County, where there is one district judge per 28,000 residents. However, there is concern that one legislator, Republican Senator Anthony Sykes, will support the bill only if the new Cleveland County district judge is required to live in the northern part of the county, where his Senate district is located. Senator Sykes has already successfully persuaded the Senate to remove the Cleveland County language from the original version of the bill. If lawmakers cannot come to an agreement soon on language to add a judge, it is possible that the legislative term will end without any version of the bill being passed, and without alleviating the problems in Cleveland County.[2]
Senator Sykes has suggested that it might be possible to compromise on this issue by requiring another district judge to live in the southern part of the county.[1]
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