In the last few years some judges have overstepped their authority mandating that the state raise the level of funding for certain programs. They have taken over, in these cases, the responsibility and duty of the legislature when they make laws or appropriate tax dollars from the bench. Judicial activism must stop.

There are three branches of government to keep a balance so that no one branch has too much power, I will work to stop judicial legislation and appropriation.

In 2007 I was able to reduce the travel burden on citizens who are called to jury service by sponsoring SB1434. The Governor signed this important legislation into law on May 2nd, 2007. SB1434 allowed for many judicial reforms including the following changes to how the courts call citizens to jury service:
 

• Allows alternative juror summoning procedures to minimize the distance prospective jurors must travel by dividing the county into jury districts or using a countywide juror summoning method that allows for the consideration of all qualified persons in the county.
• Allows, if multiple courts operate at one location, jurors to be summoned countywide or from the jurisdiction of the courts and pooled for use by any superior court or justice of the peace court, except that in counties of two million persons or more, a person must reside within the precinct limits of the court to be a juror in a justice of the peace court.
• Restricts jury service in municipal court to persons who reside within the city or town limits of the court.
• Requires, in counties with a population of two million persons or more, a person to reside within the precinct to be eligible for jury service in a justice of the peace court.
• Prohibits, in counties in which multiple superior court locations exist, a
• juror from being summoned to more than one court location on the same date.