Waller lobbying for higher salaries for judges

GULFPORT — Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. used a Gulf Coast forum to press the issue of higher salaries for judges.

The Sun Herald reports Waller and Justices Randy Pierce and Michael Randolph told members of the Gulf Coast Business Council that a judicial pay bill would be presented to the 2012 Legislature.

Randolph says the last time Supreme Court justices got a pay raise gasoline was $1.89 a gallon. That was 2003.

Waller says the pay package will propose a four-year, step pay increase for appellate judges and those in the circuit, chancery and county courts. It also will feature higher civil filing and appellate court fees to fund the increases.

A similar bill passed in the Senate last year, but was defeated in the House.