§589. Fourteenth Judicial District Court; magistrate judge

            A. The office of magistrate judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District Court is hereby created and shall be an elected position. The magistrate judge shall be elected at large from the Fourteenth Judicial District. The initial election shall occur in the fall of 2020 and the elected term shall begin January 1, 2021. The magistrate judge shall serve a six-year term. The position is a full-time position, and the magistrate judge is prohibited from practicing law.

            B. The magistrate judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District Court shall possess the same qualifications required of the district court judges, as outlined in Article V, Section 24 of the Constitution of Louisiana.

            C. The salary of the magistrate judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District Court shall be ninety percent of the salary paid to judges of the Fourteenth Judicial District Court per annum, and the salary and related benefits as provided by law shall be payable in the same manner from the same sources as the salary and benefits of a judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District Court. The support services and personnel, including minute clerks and stenographers, as shall be necessary for the offices of the magistrate judge shall be paid from the same source as the same positions in the Fourteenth Judicial District Court.

            D. The magistrate judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District Court created in this Section shall hold court in the same building as is provided for the other judges of the court. With the approval of the judges of the Fourteenth Judicial District Court, the magistrate judge may hear and preside over all criminal matters, except the adjudication of felony charges, including but not limited to preliminary motions; conduct extradition hearings; accept pleas in misdemeanor cases; hear and render judgments in other matters, including misdemeanor cases, preliminary to the trial on the merits; conduct trials of misdemeanor cases; have authority to set bail; and sign and issue search and arrest warrants upon probable cause being shown in accordance with law.

            E.(1) Notwithstanding this Section or any other provision of law to the contrary, subject to the approval of the en banc judges of the Fourteenth Judicial District Court, the magistrate judge may preside over a specialty court program and fully adjudicate the related felony charges for those who have pled into or otherwise agreed to participate in a specialty court program.

            (2) For purposes of this Subsection, "specialty court" means any program designated as a specialty court by the Louisiana Supreme Court including drug court programs, Veterans Court programs, driving while intoxicated court, mental health court, reentry court, domestic abuse court, behavioral health court, or any juvenile specialty court handling matters related to allegations of domestic abuse.

            Acts 2019, No. 211, §1; Acts 2020, No. 126, §1, eff. June 9, 2020; Acts 2023, No. 51, §1; Acts 2026, No. 295, §1.