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Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to introduce the CASELOAD Act of 2023.

This legislation would address the critical need for additional judges in California's Eastern District, which faces disproportionately high workloads and significant litigation backlogs.

This legislation would add five new judges to the Eastern District of California over the next 4 years to increase that court's capacity to address the needs of its roughly 8.4 million citizens.

The bill adds the judges in three tranches. Two judges would be added in 2025, one judge would be added in 2027, and two would be added in 2029.

It also would authorize the funds necessary for the additional positions.

The Eastern District of California encompasses 34 counties and has roughly 8\1/2\ million residents. Despite this massive geographic size and population, the Eastern District has only six permanent judgeships and has not added a permanent seat since 1978.

The judges of the Eastern District face a staggering caseload. The total pending cases per judge as of June 2022 was 1,308, over 2\1/2\ the national average for districts.

The people of the Eastern District, as well as the hard-working judicial officers who serve them, would greatly benefit from the additional judgeships that this bill would add. ______

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