§722. Commissioners: qualifications; salary and benefits; restrictions on employment; office space; supplies; equipment; employees

A. The qualifications for the office of commissioner for the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court shall be the same as the qualifications for office for district court judges.

B. The salary of the commissioner shall be set by a majority of the elected judges of the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court and shall not exceed seventy-two thousand five hundred dollars per annum. A commissioner may be a member of the Parochial Employees' Retirement System. A commissioner may be reimbursed for his expenses as provided for by court rule.

C. A commissioner shall be a full-time employee of the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court. A commissioner shall not engage in any outside business, occupation, or employment that is inconsistent with the expeditious, proper, and impartial performance of his duties as judicial officer, nor shall he engage in the practice of law. Any question regarding the conduct of any outside business, occupation, or employment by the commissioner shall be resolved by a majority of the elected judges of the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court. The provisions of this Subsection shall not abrogate or supersede any provisions of the Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement or the Code of Judicial Conduct applicable to judges and attorneys.

D. Office space for the commissioner may be provided by the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court, out of funds available to the court.

E. Any employee of the office of commissioner shall be hired only upon the prior approval of employment by a majority of the elected judges of the court pursuant to adopted rules or the specific order of the court and may be a member of the Parochial Employees' Retirement System.

F. The salaries, related benefits, and expenses of the commissioner, and the salaries and related benefits of the employees of the commissioner, the costs of the equipment and supplies of the commissioner and his employees, and other costs of implementing this Section and R.S. 13:721 shall be paid from funds available to the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court.

G. The sources of funding for the commissioner and his offices and employees shall include but shall not be limited to the following sources:

(1) Subject to the other provisions of this Section, there is hereby imposed an additional fee on all persons convicted in the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court of felony, misdemeanor, and traffic offenses. The amount of the additional fees shall be set by the judges of the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court sitting en banc. The amount of the additional fee in felony cases shall not exceed one hundred dollars. The amount of the additional fee in misdemeanor and traffic cases shall not exceed seven dollars and fifty cents.

(2) The additional fees created in this Section shall be collected by the sheriffs in the same manner as all other criminal court costs. All additional fees collected under this Section shall be remitted by the sheriffs to the police juries of the parishes of St. Tammany and Washington and deposited into special accounts. These funds are to be used by the parishes, only when authorized by court order from the chief judge of the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court, to defray the costs and expenses incurred pursuant to the provisions of this Section and other related judicial expenditures.

(3) If any part of the provisions of this Section become dependent upon monies from the general fund of the respective parishes, the provisions of this Section and of R.S. 13:721 shall terminate if the parish police juries fail to appropriate sufficient monies to provide for the continuation of the office of commissioner for the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court.

H. The commissioner shall use the title of commissioner in the performance of his duties under the provisions of this Section and R.S. 13:721.

Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 28, §1, eff. Aug. 16, 2002.