The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill on Thursday that would add judgeships to Colorado’s federal trial court for the first time in 40 years.

The bipartisan JUDGES Act would expand the size of district courts across the country in two-year increments over the next decade. Colorado’s U.S. District Court currently has seven presidentially appointed judges, and the number under the bill would increase to nine by 2033.

The Judicial Conference of the United States, which is the governing body for the federal courts, has repeatedly recommended Congress give two additional judgeships to Colorado based on caseloads. Data from 2022 showed 558 cases filed per judge on Colorado’s federal trial court, a higher number than neighboring states‘ courts.

Last year, U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse re-introduced the Colorado Judgeship Act, after a previous version of the bill failed to advance in the prior Congress. The number of active judges authorized on the U.S. District Court for Colorado has held steady since 1984, even though the state’s population has nearly doubled in the last 39 years.

This year, Neguse again put forward legislation, this time tying the increase in Colorado judgeships to one additional seat on Idaho’s trial court.

The JUDGES Act now awaits consideration by the U.S. House of Representatives.