The Iowa House has overwhelmingly approved a plan to reduce the number of part-time magistrates working in Iowa courtrooms. Magistrates help reduce judges’ workloads by handling simple misdemeanor cases, issuing warrants and presiding over preliminary hearings. Under current law, there must be 206 magistrates in Iowa, with at least one in each county. The bill would allow the Iowa Supreme Court to establish a system linking magistrate appointments to workloads in each of the state’s eight judicial districts. The chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court says the changes would save the state at least $2.5 million a year.
