Yesterday, the General Assembly overrode Governor Cooper’s veto to enact S.L. 2024-57 (S 382). The legislation, which was focused in part on disaster recovery following Hurricane Helene, impacts the court system in several notable ways:
- It appropriates $8.2 million to the Office of Indigent Defense Services (IDS) to ensure timely payments to private assigned counsel representing indigent defendants (Section 2D.3);
- It creates two new special superior court judgeships to be filled by legislative appointment (Section 2D.4(a));
- It eliminates, as of January 1, 2029, two superior court districts, one in Wake County and one in Forsyth County (Section 2D.5);
- It modifies the process for filling vacancies on the appellate courts (Section 3C.1);
- It abolishes the Courts Commission (Section 3C.2);
- It provides for appointment of senior resident superior court judges by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (Section 3C.3); and
- It authorizes the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to employ or retain counsel to represent judicial branch officers and employees (Section 3D.2).