Capitol Notebook: Iowa AG urges Congress add judges to address rising caseloads

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird co-led a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general urging Congress to pass a bill that would add 66 new judges to understaffed federal district courts around the country over the next decade.

The JUDGES Act unanimously passed the U.S. Senate in August and is pending in the U.S. House. Bird co-led a letter signed by 22 state attorneys generals and the District of Columbia calling on House leadership to pass the bill.

“For too long, our judges have been stretched thin,” Bird said in statement Wednesday. “As population and caseloads increase, so must the size of the team we have to hear these cases. I am co-leading a bipartisan group of States in urging Congress to add federal district judges to eliminate backlogs, shorten wait times, and ensure an effective judicial system.”

The bill would authorize 63 new permanent federal district court judges and three new temporary judgeships in 25 district courts in 13 states to help address rising caseloads, including an additional district judge for the Northern District of Iowa.

Courts across the country are burdened and facing a shortage of federal judges. No new district court judgeship has been created since 2003, and would be the first comprehensive adjustment to the number of judicial seats since 1990.

As of March 31, 2023, there were 686,797 pending cases in federal district courts across the country, averaging 491 filings per judgeship over a 12-month period. That compares with 279,589 pending cases across the country in 1990, the last time Congress passed comprehensive legislation to address judicial shortages.

Last year, the Judicial Conference of the United States, a nonpartisan policymaking body for federal courts, recommended that Congress create the 66 judgeships.

Attempts to expand the federal bench have stalled in an increasingly partisan Congress where lawmakers have worried of the prospect of creating new vacancies that could be filled by a president of an opposing party.

“This bill takes an approach that will ensure fairness in appointing judges to fill these empty seats — with new judicial seats created over the next ten years in batches,” the letter co-led by Bird and Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James states.

“That will ensure a fair and orderly process to make sure that our judiciary maintains its high quality and standards,” the letter reads. “ … This is the best opportunity Congress has had for a bipartisan solution to this longstanding problem, and the undersigned Attorneys General strongly recommend that the House make the most of this opportunity.”

Board approves projects to expand access to higher ethanol blends

  Buy Photo

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program Board recently approved more than $6 million in requested projects from Iowa gas stations to upgrade and install new equipment to expand access to higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel.

The board approved 126 projects across 61 Iowa counties, including nearly $4.5 million in cost-share grants for new ethanol fueling infrastructure and more than $1.8 million for biodiesel retail cost-share grants.

  Buy Photo

“We want to keep the Iowa biofuels momentum going because it not only saves drivers money, but it also supports rural jobs, expands markets for farmers, burns cleaner, and enhances our energy security,” Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said in a statement.

State lawmakers passed and Gov. Kim Reynolds signed legislation in 2022 that requires most retailers to offer E15 ethanol for sale by Jan. 1, 2026.

The Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Board will consider additional grant applications in the coming months. Over the history of the program, the state has invested more than $88 million while private industry has invested more than $260 million, according to the Iowa Agriculture Department.

Iowa announces settlement with Marriott over data breach

  Buy Photo

Iowa will receive $594,105 as part of a $52 million settlement with 49 states and the District of Columbia to resolve allegations that the Marriott hotel company failed to implement reasonable data security practices that led to large breaches.

The Federal Trade Commission reached a separate settlement with Marriott.

As part of the settlement, Marriott has agreed to strengthen its data security practices, offering its guests new protections and adding safeguards to detect and prevent hackers who attempt to infiltrate its network.

The state attorneys general alleges that for years intruders had undetected access to Marriott’s database that exposed 131.5 million guest records. The hacked records included contact information, gender, dates of birth, preferred guest information, reservation information and hotel stay preferences, as well as some passport numbers and payment card information.

The FTC and the states worked in parallel on an investigation into the breach, alleging Marriott violated state consumer and personal information protection and breach-notification laws by failing to implement proper security measures.

Marriott has agreed to provide all its U.S. customers with a way to request deletion of personal information associated with their email addresses or loyalty rewards account numbers. In addition, the settlement requires Marriott to review loyalty rewards accounts upon customer request and restore stolen loyalty points.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau