Durham urged lawmakers to support legislation by Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, that would implement changes in Utah's municipal courts, created by counties and cities to hear class B and C misdemeanors, ordinance violations, infractions and small claims.

The text of Hillyard's bill was not available as of Monday afternoon. But a Judicial Council committee has proposed making justice court judges, who serve at the discretion of city mayors and county councils, full-time state employees with college educations. Justice court judges would serve six-year terms, earn 90 percent of a district court judge's salary, and stand in retention elections.

"There is, in my view, no more pressing problem of public perception regarding Utah's court system than the justice courts," Durham said during Monday's annual State of the Judiciary address.

The Utah Association of Counties and the Utah League of Cities and Towns have said they will lobby against the legislation in favor of local control. Lincoln Shurtz, director of legislative affairs for the Utah League of Cities and Towns, said Monday the proposed changes to the justice court system would add "complexity and expense" to administering municipal courts at the local level.

He and other lobbyists plan to ask lawmakers to keep more control with municipalities, which want more say over who their judges are and what they should be paid.

Durham characterized Hillyard's bill as aimed at improving the perception of justice courts as a place for fair dispute resolution, rather than, as critics say, simply generating revenue for city and county coffers.

"This is not a proposal for state government to take over the justice courts," Durham told lawmakers. "There will no doubt be differing views about the specifics of the proposed changes, but I urge you to give careful consideration to the principles underlying Senator Hillyard's bill . . . I urge you to seize this opportunity to reform a system in need of attention and to enhance the public's confidence in these courts."

During her address, Durham also highlighted the need to increase pay for deputy clerks to combat a high turnover rate. She disagreed with a bill introduced by Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, that would restructure the way a judge's job performance is evaluated.

"From the judiciary's perspective, the current program is not in need of change," she said.

mrogers@sltrib.com

* Of Utah's 178 court locations, 138 are county or municipal justice courts.

* Of the 860,000 court cases filed in the state last year, nearly 70 percent were filed in justice courts.

* Justice courts generated more than $72 million in revenue for cities and counties last year, and are expected to generate $84 million in revenue in 2008.

Source: Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine M. Durham