State District 44 Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, will serve as vice-chair of the Interim Study Committee on Courts and the Judiciary during the summer and fall to help shape policy for the 2021 legislative session.

As vice-chair, Koch and the committee are tasked with reviewing requests for new courts, magistrates or judges and the most recent weighted caseload measurement system report to determine whether the number of courts or judicial officers in an identified county need to be decreased.

The committee also will consider whether the state should provide mutual full faith and credit to the judgments, decrees, orders, warrants, subpoenas and other judicial acts of a tribal court of a federally recognized Indian tribe.

When the part-time legislature is not in session, lawmakers serve on interim study committees that meet to review issues designated by the General Assembly during the prior session.

Study committee topics are assigned by the bipartisan Legislative Council, comprised of 16 voting members — eight from the Senate and eight from the House of Representatives.

To view interim committee agendas and stream hearings online, visit iga.in.gov. To view a list of topics that will be examined, visit iga.in.gov/documents/94b510dd.

Senate District 44 includes all or parts of Bartholomew, Brown, Jackson, Lawrence and Monroe counties.