Governor schedules Kennewick visit to sign Nealey bill
Gov. Jay Inslee will be in Kennewick on Monday afternoon, May 6, to sign a bill that would increase the number of Superior Court judges who jointly serve Benton and Franklin counties from six to seven . Rep. Terry Nealey, R-Dayton, is the prime sponsor of House Bill 1175, which authorizes the increase. “I introduced this bill at the request of the counties. It's a joint judicial district, so there's a good cooperative agreement between the two counties to share judges. However, the population in the Tri-Cities has grown extensively and there's more demand on the dockets, so they need an additional judge to relieve that pressure and to lessen the backlog of cases,” said Nealey. The measure passed the House on March 5 with a vote of 87-9. It passed the Senate on April 15. The vote was 47-1. The governor's office announced today that Inslee would sign the bill on Monday at 3:30 p.m. in the Benton County Justice Center, 7122 W. Okanogan Place, Building A, in Kennewick. “I was surprised to hear the governor will be making the trip. We welcome him and it will be good for our county courts to have this measure signed into law,” added Nealey. The bill takes effect July 27.
