Independent judicial reviews approved by Senate

A bill to end requiring judges to judge their fellow judges and report the findings in pamphlets for voters was passed unanimously Wednesday by the Senate and sent to the House.

SB105 sponsored by Sen. Chris Buttars, instead would give that job to a new independent commission. Buttars said the bill will also make data in voter information pamphlets about judges much more easy to understand.

Currently, when judges stand for retention in an election every few years, the state's Judicial Council — made up of judges — evaluates their performance based on a survey of attorneys, and reports findings in voter information pamphlets.

Buttars said the information has been so confusing, however, that studies showed the pamphlets had no bearing on how voters cast ballots.

The bill would create a new Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission to evaluate such areas as a judge's legal ability, integrity, communication skills, judicial temperament and administrative performance. It would survey attorneys, litigants, witnesses, judicial staff and accept public comment.

For each area evaluated, the voter information pamphlet would not only show the score of the judge but the minimum acceptable score, and the average score of all judges of the same court level.