The Legislature’s key budget-writing panel early Thursday approved two new circuit court judges for Deschutes County as part of a flurry of spending at the end of the 2021 session.

The new judges were approved by the Joint Ways & Means Subcommittee on Capital Construction.

The subcommittee is one of the most powerful in the Legislature, made up of 10 top leaders from both parties in the Senate and House.

Approval by the subcommittee almost always signals a bill will have bipartisan support for the final votes in the full Ways & Means Committee and on the floor of the House and Senate.

The bill now goes to the full 23-member Joint Ways & Means Committee, which will hold an afternoon meeting on Thursday to officially send the bill on to the House and Senate floor for final approval.

In Oregon, legislation cannot be amended on the floor. Approval is expected as early as Friday for the legislation to go to Gov. Kate Brown. 

House Bill 3011 amended the state statute on the number of judges in each judicial district: “The eleventh judicial district consists of Deschutes County and has [seven] nine judges.”

The bracketed word is the current number and the number after that is the revised number of judges. 

The Legislature also has to approve funding for the two judges. That was included in House Bill 5006, the annual budget reconciliation bill. It’s traditional nickname in the Legislature is “The Christmas Tree Bill” as it is full of targeted spending in House and Senate districts, usually requested by lawmakers. 

The bill allocated $721,500 from the state’s general fund for two new circuit court judgeships.

The judgeships would begin on January 1, 2022.

The subcommittee approved $867,280 in the general fund for six permanent full-time positions, including one judicial assistant, one courtroom clerk, and one back-office clerk for each newly established judgeship. Judicial staff would begin on November 1, 2021

The bill says the Deschutes County government will assume facility (courtroom and office space) and associated costs for the judgeships and staff.

The subcommittee that approved the judgeships includes the House Speaker and Senate President , as well as the top two Republican leaders in the Legislature, two chairs from the full Ways & Means Committee, and Republican vice-chairs of the full committee.