KGWN –Cheyenne, WY– Scottsbluff, NE News,Weather, SportsSenate Looks to Raise Judicial Salaries

Senate Looks to Raise Judicial Salaries

The 2011 Wyoming Legislature granted $7.1 million in raises to executive branch employees.

Now Wyoming court employees are looking for their own pay raise.

Senate File 40 is asking for pay raises to circuit, district and supreme court judges in an effort to become more competitive.

But Governor Mead has not been behind the idea raises to court employees.

Those in favor of the bill argue that it's an issue of fairness.

"You need to go back and look at the raises we gave to the executive department in the last few years and the judiciary did not get raises so we're doing it in a bill now," said (R) Senator Tony Ross.

At last week's State of the State address Chief Justice Kite argued that Wyoming needs to raise salaries to remain competitive. She says that an entry level attorney can go work for the attorney general's office for $4,000 more than the supreme court.

"Frankly, we're getting less and less people to apply for the judgeships. The competition is really fierce," said (R) Senator Curt Meier.

The timing might seem problematic with reduced revenue due to energy costs, but those in favor feel like it's long overdue.

"The last time judiciaries had any salary increase was in 2009. So they lag behind," Ross said.

Wyoming currently pays it's supreme court judges $131,500 a year which ranks 41st highest in the nation. The proposed raise would pay them $165,000, moving them up to the 13th best salary.

"The situation is you want to get the best people on that bench because those are people that make decisions about your life, you have to go in front of them. Whether it's in a civil matter, a criminal matter. You want the best and brightest lawyers to be the next judge," Meier said.

The bill passed the committee as a whole on Monday. If adopted, raises would not go into effect until June 30, 2014.

To check out how Wyoming stacks up against other states in their judicial salaries you can visit ncsc.org.