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courts” have been understood to “occupy a somewhat dual position” because “they perform both state and county functions.” In re Salary of Superior Court Judges, 82 Wn. 623, 628, 144 P. 929 (1914); accord Ladenburg v. Henke, 197 Wn.2d 645, 486 P.3d 866, 870 (2021). That understanding is enshrined in the sole constitutional provision concerning responsibility for judicial funding (a provision Plaintiffs’ complaint fails to acknowledge): article IV, section 13 provides that the State must pay the full salary of supreme court justices, but only “[o]ne-half of the salary of each of the superior court judges,” with the counties being responsible for the other half.1 Consistent with this provision, the State has never been obligated to solely fund the Washington superior courts. In Washington’s earliest days as a state, the “equipment” for the superior courts—“such as the places of holding courts, the clerks, bailiffs, and other assistants”—was “furnished wholly by the counties.” Superior Court Judges, 82 Wn. at 628. The supreme court justices, in contrast, had “their equipment necessary to the exercise of the functions furnished wholly by” the State. Id. The same division of funding responsibility remains in place today: counties are responsible for the “costs of operating superior and district courts,” while the State funds “the Supreme Court, its administrative
Plaintiffs allege that the “counties” are mere “agents” of the State acting on its “behalf.” FAC ¶ 2.31. The reality is not so simplistic. The Washington Constitution establishes a “presumption of autonomy in local governance.” Watson v. City of Seattle, 189 Wn.2d 149, 166, 401 P.3d 1 (2017)); see also, e.g., Davison v. State, 196 Wn.2d 285, 298, 466 P.3d 231 (2020) (State cannot be held liable for county’s alleged failure to fulfill its duties). 1
MOTION TO DISMISS Case No. 21-2-06462-7 SEA 153411396
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