Colorado’s House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to establish 15 new judgeships throughout the state by a vote of 9-2 on Tuesday.

Senate Bill 24 is the Judicial Department’s top priority this year.

As originally proposed, it would have added 26 judge seats in the trial courts and three seats on the Court of Appeals. The numbers did not come close to the projection calculated by a series of recent workload studies, which estimated Colorado needs approximately 43 more district judges, 20 more county judges and six appellate judges.

However, the Senate passed the bill last week after reducing the number of judgeships to 15 over two years, a compromise with lawmakers concerned about the budget deficit.

Terry Scanlon, the legislative liaison for the judicial branch, was the only witness who testified before the judiciary committee.

“Our timing is unfortunate,” he said. “Really, the only opposition we’ve heard to this so far in the legislative process has been the cost.”

Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta, who is one of the House sponsors, said he is worried lawyers may show less interest in becoming judges because of the workload and that parties will wait longer to receive justice due to backlogs.

“Of everything that we do in government, the judiciary and being able to have a trial — whether it’s a civil or a criminal trial — in a timely manner, is an essential government function,” he said. “And something that we have a duty as a state to be able to fund and provide judges for.”

All members of the judiciary committee voted for SB 24, except Reps. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, and Rebecca Keltie, R-Colorado Springs.

Previously, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from judges about how little time they have to address sensitive matters and the consequences of untimely resolution of cases. Cynthia D. Mares, a retired judge from the 18th Judicial District in suburban Denver, testified that she cut ties with most of her community organizations and curtailed the time she spent with her ailing father because she needed to keep up with her workload during her tenure on the bench.

George Brauchler, the district attorney for the newly established 23rd Judicial District in Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties, also told the Senate that the state’s elected district attorneys support the bill. Brauchler is a regular Colorado Politics opinion contributor.

“Sometimes you need judges to rule on motions that will make a case end right then and there because the DA was just wrong on the charges. Or they were just wrong about how the police acquired the evidence,” he said. “Less judges means those things do not happen at the same pace. Sometimes it means that dark cloud that hangs over victims and defendants in a case hangs there longer.”

The bill now moves to the House Appropriations Committee. Legislative staff has estimated SB 24 will cost $3.3 million in its first fiscal year.