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Chief Justice makes the case for raising Iowa judges’ pay
Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen is making another pitch for judges’ pay raises.
“Addressing judicial pay should not and it cannot be a rare occurrence,” she said this morning. “It must be part of a regular and ongoing commitment to supporting the judiciary.”
Christensen delivered the annual “Condition of the Judiciary” address to legislators today.
“We are truly grateful for the legislation passed last session that stabilized our judicial pension (system) and it provided a 5% pay raise,” Christensen said. “That’s the largest cost of living pay raise the judges have gotten in over 16 years.”
But Christensen said because salaries for many years were frozen, the pay for district court judges — when adjusted for inflation — is still 16.5% below what it was in 2010.
“Even with last year’s 5% increase, our judges and magistrates still earn well below our counterparts in every state we touch. Nationally we rank 41st. right after Oklahoma and just ahead of Guam,” Christensen said. “Without meaningful change, we risk continuing this race to the bottom.”
Christensen is proposing that Iowa mimic what Kansas has done by passing a law that ties pay for Kansas judges to the salaries of federal judges. Christensen proposes that Iowa district court judges’ pay be 75% of what a federal district court judge’s salary is, with a four year transition to get to that level. Appellate judges in Iowa would also get raises, under a framework and time frame.
“If judicial salaries remain uncompetitive, we risk attracting a pool of applicants who may not have the qualifications or the proper temperament to serve effectively. This could lead to rulings that are inconsistent or poorly grounded in the law, which ultimately undermines the confidence in our courts,” Christensen said. “While our judiciary is strong today, we cannot afford to let these challenges be tomorrow’s reality.”
Christensen spoke to lawmakers for about 50 minutes this morning and covered a variety of other topics, including indigent defense and the state’s magistrate system. She did not address the court system’s computer programming error which led millions in court fees and fines going to the wrong state or local agency for the past five years. A key G-O-P lawmaker says it appears the problem was fixed last month and it will be up to legislators to review the distributions and decide whether to make repayments for errors in previous years.
