# 119-s-3020: Judicial Efficiency Improvement Act

119-s-3020, Judicial Efficiency Improvement Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Sullivan, Dan [R-AK] (R-AK); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-08-11).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3020
- As of: 2026-08-11
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-3020
- Congress: 119
- Title: Judicial Efficiency Improvement Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-10-21
- Sponsor: Sen. Sullivan, Dan [R-AK] (R-AK)
- Cosponsors: 5
- Policy area: Law
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-08-11

## Summary

**Splits the current Ninth Circuit and creates a new Twelfth Circuit**. This bill would redraw appellate lines, reassign judges by duty station, and phase in dozens of new district judges to relieve caseload pressure. - Residents and litigants in affected states and territories would see appeals move to different circuits. The new Ninth Circuit would cover California, Guam, Hawaii, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The Twelfth Circuit would cover Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Court locations would include Honolulu, Pasadena, and San Francisco for the Ninth and Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, and Seattle for the Twelfth. - Judges would be reassigned based on their official duty stations. Senior judges could elect which of the two new circuits to join. The President could appoint two additional circuit judges with duty stations in California for the new Ninth. - Pending filings would be handled by the court that would have received them if the split had already happened. Cases already submitted would proceed under the original court process. - The bill starts a phased, multi‑year expansion of district judgeships from 2025 through 2035, beginning with 11 new district judges in 2025 across high‑volume districts including multiple California and New York districts. - It creates three temporary district judgeships in Oklahoma with nonpermanent tenure rules and sets the Twelfth Circuit headquarters in Seattle. The bill also authorizes temporary inter‑circuit assignments to let judges sit in the other circuit when needed. *It authorizes appropriations to implement the changes and establishes a funding schedule for the temporary Oklahoma judgeships that starts at about $13.0 million for FY2025–26, rises to about $23.2 million for FY2027–28 and reaches about $61.1 million annually from FY2035, with future amounts adjusted by the Consumer Price Index.*

## Cosponsors (5)

- Sen. Crapo, Mike [R-ID] (R-ID), 2025-10-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Daines, Steve [R-MT] (R-MT), 2025-10-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (R-AK), 2025-10-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Risch, James E. [R-ID] (R-ID), 2025-10-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT] (R-MT), 2025-10-21T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- New district judges through 2035: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would add many new federal district judges between 2025 and 2035. Eleven judges would begin in 2025 when the law is signed. Further tranches of judges would take effect on January 21 of later years (2027, 2029, 2031, 2033, and 2035). The new judges are spread across many distri…
- Money to pay for court changes: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would authorize Congress to appropriate whatever sums are necessary to carry out the court reorganization. That includes money for new court facilities. The bill does not set dollar amounts. Any spending would still require later appropriations acts.
- Split Ninth Circuit and Reassign Judges: mixed, high. If enacted, this bill would split the current Ninth Circuit into two circuits. The new Ninth would cover California, Guam, Hawaii, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The new Twelfth would cover Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. It would set Ninth Circuit judges at 18 a…

## Related bills

- 119-s-524: Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025
- 119-s-3940: Access to Fair Financing for Opportunity and Resilient Development Act
- 119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025
- 119-s-1532: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the railroad track maintenance credit.
- 119-s-1175: Small County PILT Parity Act
- 119-s-1032: Major Richard Star Act

## Sources
- [119-s-3020 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3020)

## Related
- [119-s-524: Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-524)
- [119-s-3940: Access to Fair Financing for Opportunity and Resilient Development Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3940)
- [119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1241)
- [119-s-1532: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the railroad track…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1532)
- [119-s-1175: Small County PILT Parity Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1175)
- [119-s-1032: Major Richard Star Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1032)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3020 (as of 2026-08-11).