Split Distr Ct/Defender Distr 43 into 43A/43B.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 656

Short Title: Split Distr Ct/Defender Distr 43 into 43A/43B. (Public)
Sponsors: Representative Clampitt.
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Judiciary 1, if favorable, Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and
Operations of the House
April 2, 2025
*H656-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO SPLIT DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT 43 INTO DISTRICT COURT DISTRICTS 2
43A AND 43B, TO SPLI T DEFENDER DISTRICT 43 INTO DEFENDER DIS TRICTS 3
43A AND 43B, AND TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS. 4
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 5
SECTION 1.(a) G.S. 7A-133 reads as rewritten: 6
"§ 7A-133. Numbers of judges by districts; numbers of magistrates and additional seats of 7
court, by counties. 8
(a) Each district court district shall have the numbers of judges as set forth in the 9
following table: 10
11
District Judges County 12
… 13
4343A 74 Cherokee 14
Clay 15
Graham 16
Haywood 17
Jackson 18
Macon 19
Swain.Swain 20
43B 4 Haywood 21
Jackson." 22
SECTION 1.(b) There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Administrative 23
Office of the Courts the sum of two hundred fifty -three thousand one dollars ($253,001) in 24
recurring funds and ten thousand three hundred seventy -six dollars ($10,376) in nonrecurring 25
funds for the 2026-2027 fiscal year to be used to hire one full -time district court judge pursuant 26
to Section 1(a) of this act. 27
SECTION 1.(c) There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Administrative 28
Office of the Courts the sum of seven thousand four hundred twenty -one dollars ($7,421) in 29
recurring funds for the 2026-2027 fiscal year to be added to the salary of the district court judge 30
selected as chief district court judge of District 43B created under Section 1(a) of this act. 31
SECTION 1.(d) There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Administrative 32
Office of the Courts the sum of seventy-one thousand nine hundred thirty-two dollars ($71,932) 33
in recurring funds and three thousand four hundred thirty -six dollars ($3,436) in nonrecurring 34
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 656-First Edition
funds for the 2026 -2027 fiscal year to be used to hire one full -time judicial assistant to serve 1
District Court District 43B. 2
SECTION 1.(e) Subsection (a) of this section becomes effective January 1, 2027, 3
and elections held in 2026 shall be held accordingly. The remainder of this section becomes 4
effective July 1, 2026. 5
SECTION 2.(a) G.S. 7A-498.7(a) reads as rewritten: 6
"(a) The following counties of the State are organized into the defender districts listed 7
below, and in each of those defender districts an office of public defender is established: 8
9
Defender District Counties 10
___________________________________________________________________ 11
… 12
4343A Cherokee, Clay, Graham, 13
Haywood, Jackson, Macon, 14
Swain 15
43B Haywood, Jackson 16
After notice to, and consultation with, the affected district bar, senior resident superior court 17
judge, and chief district court judge, the Commission on In digent Defense Services may 18
recommend to the General Assembly that a district or regional public defender office be 19
established. A legislative act is required in order to establish a new office or to abolish an existing 20
office." 21
SECTION 2.(b) There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Administrative 22
Office of the Courts, Office of Indigent Defense Services, the sum of two hundred twenty -eight 23
thousand four hundred sixty -one dollars ($228,461) in recurring funds and four thousand eight 24
hundred ninety-five dollars ($4,895) in nonrecurring funds for the 2026 -2027 fiscal year to be 25
used to hire one full-time chief public defender to serve Defender District 43B. 26
SECTION 2.(c) There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Administrative 27
Office of the Courts, Office of Indigent Defense Services, the sum of four hundred twenty -four 28
thousand four hundred eighty-eight dollars ($424,488) in recurring funds and fourteen thousand 29
six hundred eighty-five dollars ($14,685) in nonrecurring funds for the 2026-2027 fiscal year to 30
be used to hire three full-time assistant public defenders to serve Defender District 43B. 31
SECTION 2.(d) This section becomes effective July 1, 2026. 32
SECTION 3. Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes 33
law. 34