Cole County could be getting another circuit court judge - if the House and Gov. Jay Nixon agree with a compromise bill the Senate passed last week.
The bill also would add another judge in nine other circuit courts, all based on numbers developed in what's generally known as the "weighted workload" study.
"Basically what we did," Senate Judiciary Chairman Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, explained, "we said if the weighted workload study shows for three consecutive years that a circuit is more than two judgeships short, then one circuit judgeship shall be authorized."
Missouri has 45 judicial circuits. Lawmakers already have authorized creation of a 46th circuit by splitting Taney County from Christian County in the current 38th circuit.
The weighted workload study analyzes each circuit's total number of civil and criminal cases, the complexity of each case - for instance, a traffic ticket usually requires a lot less work for the court than a murder trial - as well as the number of new cases filed and those disposed, whether the circuit needs more judgesand how many judges are available for temporary transfers from less-busy circuits.
Under those calculations, Cole County's 19th judicial circuit ranks sixth on the list of those needing more judges - with 2.87 more judges needed to balance the workload.
The other circuits that would get one more judge under the bill are:
Circuit 21, St. Louis County - qualifying for 7.57 more judges.
Circuit 31, Greene County - 4.22 judges.
Circuit 11, St. Charles County - 4.22 judges.
Circuit 25, Maries, Phelps, Pulaski and Phelps counties - 2.90 judges.
Circuit 7, Clay County - 2.54 judges.
Circuit 40, McDonald and Newton counties - 2.47 judges.
Circuit 39, Barry, Lawrence and Stone counties - 2.36 judges.
Circuit 16, Jackson County - 2.25 judges.
Circuit 36, Butler and Ripley counties - 2.02 judges.
"They (all) would get one judgeship," Dixon noted. "My circuit down here (Greene County) - we show that we need five more judges.
"But we would not get any more than anyone else, and we would not get less. We would get one."
As the seat of state government, Cole County's circuit judges handle most cases involving the state and its departments and agencies, making the 19th circuit judges some of the state's busiest.
When lawmakers added a third circuit judge in Cole County about 15 years ago, they also cut one of the two associate circuit judge positions, leaving the county with the same total number of judges.
The bill also adds another circuit judge to the five-county 26th circuit serving Moniteau, Morgan, Miller, Camden and Laclede counties.
That change isn't tied to the weighted workload study.
"Although I support the need in the 26th," Dixon told the News Tribune, "my concern is, doing it piecemeal around the state is why we're in the mess we're in.
"So, I've said from the get-go that we're not putting a judge in the 26th unless this other language gets on the bill and we address the need in every circuit ahead of that one that has a need."
Lawmakers have until 6 p.m. Friday to pass bills and send them to Nixon.