SB-0823, As Passed Senate, December 2, 2004                                 

    SUBSTITUTE FOR

    SENATE BILL NO. 823

                                                                             A bill to amend 1961 PA 236, entitled                                             

"Revised judicature act of 1961,"                                           

by amending sections 807, 808, 810a, and 821 (MCL 600.807,                  

600.808, 600.810a, and 600.821), sections 807, 808, and 821 as              

amended by 2003 PA 40 and section 810a as amended by 2002 PA                

715.                                                                        

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

1       Sec. 807.  A probate court district is created in each of                   

2   the following described districts when a majority of the electors           

3   voting on the question in each affected county approves the                 

4   probate court district.  The districts shall consist as follows:            

5       (a) The first district consists of  any of the following:                   

6                                                                                (i) Baraga, Houghton, and Keweenaw counties.                                        

7       (ii) Houghton and Baraga counties.                                           

8       (iii) Houghton and Keweenaw counties. the counties of                       

1   Houghton and Keweenaw.

2       (b) The second district consists of the counties of Ontonagon               

3   and Gogebic.                                                                

4       (c) The third district consists of the counties of Iron and                 

5   Dickinson.                                                                  

6       (d) The fifth district consists of the counties of                          

7   Schoolcraft and Alger.                                                      

8       (e) The sixth district consists of the counties of Mackinac                 

9   and Luce.                                                                   

10      (f) The seventh district consists of the counties of Emmet                  

11  and Charlevoix.                                                             

12  (g) The eighth district consists of the counties of                         

13  Cheboygan and Presque Isle.                                                 

14      (h) The ninth district consists of the counties of Alpena and               

15  Montmorency.                                                                

16      (i) The twelfth district consists of the counties of Manistee               

17  and Benzie.                                                                 

18      (j) The thirteenth district consists of the counties of                     

19  Wexford and Missaukee.                                                      

20      (k) The fifteenth district consists of the counties of Alcona               

21  and Oscoda.

22  (g)  (l)  The seventeenth district consists of the counties                 

23  of Clare and Gladwin.                                                       

24  (h)  (m)  The eighteenth district consists of the counties of               

25  Mecosta and Osceola.                                                        

26      Sec. 808.  (1) When each county board of commissioners of a                 

27  district described in section 807 agrees by resolution to form a            

1   district, the question of creation of the district shall be                 

2   submitted to the electors of the affected counties at the next              

3   primary, general, or special election that occurs more than 49              

4   days after the resolution is adopted.  A special election for               

5   submission of the question may be called by resolution adopted by           

6   each county board of commissioners in the proposed district.                

7       (2) The question relative to creating the district shall be                 

8   in substantially the following form:                                        

9       "Shall this county join in a probate court district, which                  

10  will consist of the counties of _______________ and                         

11  _______________ if the majority of the electors voting on the               

12  question in each affected county approve?                                   

13      Yes ( )                                                                     

14                                                                               No ( )".

15      (3) The votes on the question shall be counted, canvassed,                  

16  and returned in the manner provided by law.  The results shall be           

17  canvassed and certified by the board of state canvassers in the             

18  same manner as provided for state propositions under chapter 31             

19  of the Michigan election law, 1954 PA 116, MCL 168.841 to                   

20  168.847 168.848.                                                          

21      (4) If approved by a majority of the electors voting on the                 

22  question in each of the counties affected, those counties shall             

23  constitute the probate court district corresponding to the                  

24  appropriate district described in section 807, and that district            

25  becomes effective as provided in section 809 or 810, whichever              

26  section results in an earlier effective date.                               

27      (5) The election of the probate judge for a probate court                   

1   district created under this section shall be held as provided in            

2   section 811.                                                                

3       (6) The state shall reimburse the affected counties for  1/2                

4   of  the additional cost of submitting the question of the                   

5   district to the electors of the affected counties if the question           

6   is submitted to the electors at a primary, general, or special              

7   election held after  the effective date of the 2003 amendatory              

8   act that amended this subsection but before November 3, 2004

9   January 2, 2007.                                                            

10      Sec. 810a.  (1) The probate judges in the counties of                       

11  Arenac, Kalkaska, Crawford,  and  Lake, Barry, Berrien, Iron,               

12  Isabella, Ontonagon, Otsego, and Van Buren have the  power,                 

13  authority jurisdiction, powers, duties, and title of a district            

14  judge within their respective counties, in addition to the                  

15  power, authority jurisdiction, powers, duties, and title of a             

16  probate judge.                                                              

17  (2) Beginning January 2, 2007, in addition to the probate                   

18  judges described in subsection (1), the probate judges in the               

19  counties of Alcona, Baraga, Benzie, Missaukee, Montmorency,                 

20  Oscoda, and Presque Isle have the jurisdiction, powers, duties,             

21  and title of a district judge within their respective counties,             

22  in addition to the jurisdiction, powers, duties, and title of a             

23  probate judge.

24      Sec. 821.  (1) The following probate judges shall not engage                

25  in the practice of law other than as a judge and shall receive,             

26  subject to subsection (6), an annual salary provided in this                

27  section:                                                                    

1       (a) A probate judge of a county that is not described in                    

2   section 807.                                                                

3       (b) The probate judge in each probate court district                        

4   described in section 807 in which a majority of the electors                

5   voting on the question in each county of probate court district             

6   has approved or approves creation of the district.                          

7       (c) A probate judge in a county having a population of 15,000               

8   or more according to the 1990 federal decennial census, if the              

9   county is not part of a probate court district created pursuant             

10  to law.                                                                     

11      (d) A probate judge who has the  power, authority

12  jurisdiction, powers, duties, and title of a district judge                 

13  within his or her respective county pursuant to section 810a.               

14      (2) Each probate judge shall receive an annual salary                       

15  determined as follows:                                                      

16      (a) A minimum annual salary of the difference between 85% of                

17  the salary of a justice of the supreme court and $45,724.00.                

18      (b) An additional salary of $45,724.00 paid by the county or                

19  by the counties comprising a probate court district.  If a                  

20  probate judge receives a total additional salary of $45,724.00              

21  from the county, or from the counties comprising a probate court            

22  district, and does not receive less than or more than $45,724.00,           

23  including any cost-of-living allowance, the state shall reimburse           

24  the county or counties the amount that the county or counties               

25  have paid to the judge.                                                     

26      (3) Six thousand dollars of the minimum annual salary                       

27  provided in subsection (2) shall be paid by the county, or by the           

1   counties comprising a probate court district, and the balance of            

2   that minimum annual salary shall be paid by the state as a grant            

3   to the county or the counties comprising the probate court                  

4   district.  The county, or the counties comprising the probate               

5   court district, shall in turn pay that amount to the probate                

6   judge.   Beginning January 1, 1997, the The state shall annually           

7   reimburse the county or counties $6,000.00 for each probate judge           

8   to offset the cost of the county or counties required by this               

9   section.                                                                    

10      (4) The salary provided in this section is full compensation                

11  for all services performed by a probate judge, except as                    

12  otherwise provided by law.  In a probate court district, each               

13  county of the district shall contribute to the salary in the same           

14  proportion as the population of the county bears to the                     

15  population of the district.                                                 

16      (5) An additional salary determined by the county board of                  

17  commissioners may be increased during a term of office but shall            

18  not be decreased except to the extent of a general salary                   

19  reduction in all other branches of government in the county.  In            

20  a county where an additional salary is granted, it shall be paid            

21  at the same rate to all probate judges regularly holding court in           

22  the county.                                                                 

23      (6) An increase in the amount of salary payable to a judge                  

24  under subsection (1) caused by an increase in the salary payable            

25  to a justice of the supreme court resulting from the operation of           

26  1968 PA 357, MCL 15.211 to 15.218, is not effective until                   

27  February 1 of the year in which the increase in the salary of a             

1   justice of the supreme court becomes effective.  If an increase             

2   in salary becomes effective on February 1 of a year in which an             

3   increase in the salary of a justice of the supreme court becomes            

4   effective, the increase is retroactive to January 1 of that                 

5   year.                                                                       

6       Enacting section 1.  Sections 807 and 808 of the revised                    

7   judicature act of 1961, 1961 PA 236, MCL 600.807 and 600.808, as            

8   amended by this amendatory act, take effect January 2, 2007.