Bill Text: IA HJR2001 | 2017-2018 | 87th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa relating to the abolishment of retention elections for supreme court justices.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-18 - Introduced, referred to Judiciary. H.J. 113. [HJR2001 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2017-HJR2001-Introduced.html

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House Joint Resolution 2001 - Introduced




                                 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION       
                                 BY  WHEELER

                                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

  1 A Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution
  2    of the State of Iowa relating to the abolishment of
  3    retention elections for supreme court justices.
  4 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
    TLSB 5173YH (3) 87
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PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  The following amendment to the Constitution of
  1  2 the State of Iowa is proposed:
  1  3    1.  Section 17 of Article V of the Constitution of the
  1  4 State of Iowa, as added by the Amendment of 1962, is amended
  1  5 beginning with appointments made on or after January 1, 2021,
  1  6 to read as follows:
  1  7 Terms == judicial elections. SEC. 17.  Members of all
  1  8 courts shall have such tenure in office as may be fixed by law,
  1  9 but terms of supreme court judges shall be not less than eight
  1 10 years and terms of district court judges shall be not less than
  1 11 six years.
  1 12    Judges Supreme court judges shall serve one term beginning
  1 13 the day of appointment and until their successors are appointed
  1 14 and qualified. District court judges shall serve for one year
  1 15 after appointment and until the first day of January following
  1 16 the next judicial election after the expiration of such year.
  1 17 They District court judges shall at such judicial election
  1 18 stand for retention in office on a separate ballot which shall
  1 19 submit the question of whether such judge shall be retained in
  1 20 office for the tenure prescribed for such office and when such
  1 21 tenure is a term of years, on their request, they shall, at the
  1 22 judicial election next before the end of each term, stand again
  1 23 for retention on such ballot.
  1 24    Present supreme court judges, at the expiration of their
  1 25 respective terms on or after January 1, 2023, shall not
  1 26 be retained in office, and district court judges, at the
  1 27 expiration of their respective terms, may be retained in office
  1 28 in like manner for the tenure prescribed for such office.  The
  1 29 general assembly shall prescribe the time for holding judicial
  1 30 elections.
  1 31    Sec. 2.  REFERRAL AND PUBLICATION.  The foregoing proposed
  1 32 amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa is referred
  1 33 to the general assembly to be chosen at the next general
  1 34 election for members of the general assembly, and the secretary
  1 35 of state is directed to cause the proposed amendment to be
  2  1 published for three consecutive months previous to the date of
  2  2 that election as provided by law.
  2  3                           EXPLANATION
  2  4 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  2  5 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  2  6    This joint resolution proposes an amendment to the
  2  7 Constitution of the State of Iowa relating to the retention
  2  8 elections of supreme court justices.
  2  9    The resolution abolishes retention elections for supreme
  2 10 court justices, and specifies that a supreme court justice
  2 11 serve only one term of not less than eight years, beginning
  2 12 with appointments made on or after January 1, 2021. The
  2 13 resolution specifies that the eight=year term of a supreme
  2 14 court justice shall begin the day of appointment and last until
  2 15 their successor is appointed and qualified. If the term of a
  2 16 supreme court justice currently serving on the supreme court
  2 17 expires on or after January 1, 2023, the supreme court justice
  2 18 shall not be retained in office, and shall not stand for
  2 19 retention before the electorate at the next judicial election.
  2 20    The resolution, if adopted, would be published and then
  2 21 referred to the next general assembly (88th) for adoption,
  2 22 before being submitted to the electorate for ratification.
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