Trial Court Staffing and Judicial Needs Estimates

District Courts

  Judicial Needs Estimates by Full-Time Equivalents, 2020 Projected Filings1
Court
Judges
Commissioners
and Magistrates
Time Spent as Superior
Court Commissioner
Total Judicial
Officers
Total Estimated
Judge Need2
Adams County 3
1.50
0.00
0.00
1.50
1.24
Asotin County
1.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
1.12
Benton County
5.00
0.00
0.00
5.00
6.66
Chelan County
2.00
0.00
0.00
2.00
2.31
Clallam I 4
1.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
1.52
Clallam County II
0.60
0.00
0.00
0.60
0.58
Clark County
6.00
2.00
0.00
8.00
8.00
Columbia County
0.45
0.00
0.00
0.45
0.42
Cowlitz County
3.00
0.00
0.10
2.90
3.61
Douglas County
1.00
0.00
0.10
0.90
1.13
Ferry County
0.45
0.00
0.03
0.42
0.45
Franklin County
1.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
1.54
Garfield County
0.25
0.00
0.00
0.25
0.38
Grant County
3.00
1.00
0.00
4.00
4.16
Grays Harbor County
2.00
0.00
0.00
2.00
2.53
Island County
1.00
1.00
0.00
2.00
1.31
Jefferson County 5
1.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.97
King County
25.00
0.00
0.00
25.00
23.67
Kitsap County
4.00
0.00
0.00
4.00
3.86
Kittitas County Lower
1.00
0.50
0.00
1.50
1.74
Kittitas County Upper
0.80
0.00
0.00
0.80
0.92
Klickitat East
1.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.65
Klickitat West
0.54
0.00
0.00
0.54
0.53
Lewis County
2.00
0.10
0.00
2.10
2.53
Lincoln County
0.74
0.00
0.03
0.71
0.66
Mason County
1.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
1.43
Okanogan County
1.60
0.00
0.00
1.60
1.32
Pacific County North
0.50
0.00
0.00
0.50
0.55
Pacific County South
0.60
0.00
0.00
0.60
0.72
Pend Oreille County
1.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.67
Pierce County
8.00
0.00
0.00
8.00
8.01
San Juan County
0.77
0.00
0.10
0.67
0.50
Skagit County
3.00
1.00
0.00
4.00
3.41
Skamania County
0.56
0.50
0.00
1.00
0.57
Snohomish County
8.00
1.00
0.00
9.00
9.56
Spokane County
8.00
0.00
0.00
8.00
7.03
Stevens County
1.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
1.39
Thurston County
3.00
1.00
0.00
4.00
4.61
Wahkiakum County
0.30
0.00
0.00
0.30
0.39
Walla Walla County
1.25
0.00
0.00
1.25
2.03
Whatcom County
2.00
1.00
0.00
3.00
3.28
Whitman County
1.00
0.00
0.05
0.95
1.19
Yakima County
4.00
1.00
0.00
5.00
4.90
STATEWIDE TOTAL
110.91
10.10
0.41
120.60
124.05

Staffing levels measured are those in effect on 12/31/2019. Counts are full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).

1 Year 2020 projected filings are based on the previous five-year filing trends of the various case types in a given court. Any vehicle-related violations (parking, photo-radar and toll citations) that were not entered into the statewide Judicial Information System (JIS) are excluded from filing counts.

2 Need estimates represent the estimated number of judge positions needed, as required by RCW 2.56.030(11). They are based on the previous five years of data for the number of total judicial officers and case resolutions.

3 Prior to 2019, Adams County was separated out by Othello and Ritzville, but are now one judicial district.

4 Clallam County I has .5 FTE Commissioner authorized but not filled.

5 Jefferson County has .25 FTE Commissioner authorizied but not filled.

Description of Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Judicial Needs Estimation

In August 2002 the current methodology for estimating judicial needs of the courts of limited jurisdiction was adopted by the Administrative Office of the Courts in conjunction with the District and Municipal Court Judges' Association. Beginning with the 2002 Annual Report, a yearly table is published displaying court-level judicial needs estimates using this methodology, along with a brief description of the process.

The district and municipal court model for estimating judicial needs is workload based. The estimates are derived from a statistical model with two primary data components: (1) the observed caseload processed, and (2) the number of available judicial officers. The caseload measure is represented by case resolutions, and the judicial officer measure is represented by judge and commissioner FTEs. In order to ensure that a good representative sample underlies the estimation, the data are drawn from courts across the state and from the past several years. Estimates are presented only for municipal courts with current judicial staffing levels of 15 hours per week or above.

This type of approach has wide usage in a number of diverse applications and so provides a well-established base model. An inherent advantage of this methodology is the facility to capture changes in practice over time.

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