Arkansas District
Judges Council
Useful Links
Legislative Task Force Report on District Courts
Act 663 of 2007
District Court Resource Assessment Board Members
Pilot Project
In 2005, the 85th General Assembly of the State of Arkansas created a Legislative Task Force on District Courts. The Task Force was charged with conducting a comprehensive study of the transition of district judges to state employee status and the funding and role of District Courts. The study was, among other charges, to include adopting a process to merge existing District Courts into a unified three tiered Court system. The group began meeting in December of 2005 and issued its report the following September.
The 2006, General Assembly worked to adopt the findings of the Task Force and the result of the Task Force’s work was Act 663 of 2007. That Act established a board, the District Court Resources Assessment Board (DCRAB) whose purpose is to create and determine the placement of State-funded District Court judgeships; possible redistricting of the District Courts; and the reorganization, consolidation, abolishment and/or creation of State-funded District courts.
The DCRAB Board is comprised of 11 members, including two members from the Arkansas Senate, two members from the Arkansas House of Representatives, one Supreme Court Justice, one Circuit Judge, two District Judges, one member from the Association of Arkansas Counties, one member from the Arkansas Municipal League, and one member from the Arkansas Bar Association. Three ex-officio members serve as non-voting members, the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and the Attorney General.
Act 663 of 2007 also created the first nineteen State-Funded District Courts who became full time state employees beginning in 2008. In conjunction with Act 663, the Arkansas Supreme Court adopted Administrative Order Number 18 which provided for increased jurisdiction for these new “Pilot” District Courts.
In 2008, the District Court Resources Assessment Board (DCRAB) recommended to the Arkansas Legislature that an additional six new full-time District Courts be added. With the passage of Act 345 of 2009, this increased the number of full-time, state funded District Judges to twenty-five. These District Courts, are, in addition to their regular District Court duties, available to assist the Circuit Courts with various aspects of their duties and dockets thereby increasing Judicial economy and granting greater access to the judicial system for both the general public and to members of the Bar. Act 345 of 2009 brought us one step closer to the mandate of Amendment 80 passed by the voters in 2000 to create a full-time judiciary, and a true three-tier Court system in Arkansas.