Voters in Franklin and Fulton counties will be electing two new judges in 2009 as Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell last week signed a bill that would expand the 39th Judicial District of the Court of Common Pleas to five judges two years earlier than planned.
When House Bill 301 was introduced in February 2007, the fifth judge would have been elected in 2011 and taken office in January 2012. The bill in its final form moves the election up to 2009, with the new judge taking office in 2010.
The 39th District now has four judges, but President Judge John R. Walker is retiring at the end of this year. Walker, who could serve as a senior judge next year, said Friday that Judge Douglas W. Herman will become president judge.
Judge Carol Van Horn will be entering her 10th year on the bench and will be up for retention in 2009, said Carolyn Seibert-Drager, executive director of the Franklin County Bar Association.