Gavel to Gavel

Find out the latest information and updated legislative tracking at the Gavel to Gavel website: www.ncsc.org/gaveltogavel

2025 Newsletters

April 24Montana: House approves bill to move workers' compensation court to the judicial branch
April 17Montana: House approves and sends to governor series of Senate-approved bill
April 10Montana: House Judiciary Committee approves series of Senate-approved bills
April 3 Montana: House rejects Senate-approved bill to audit Office of Disciplinary Counsel
March 27 Montana: House considers bill to create a legislative committee “to investigate district court judges and supreme court justices to determine their independence and the quality of their rulings and to disseminate this information.”
March 20 Indiana: Legislature approves constitutional amendment that would allow city or town court judges to reside in the county or in the closest bordering county in which the city or town is located
March 13 Texas: Senate committees consider bills to change how judges are paid in the state
March 6 Montana: Senate approves a bill to create a judicial performance evaluation system
February 27 Georgia and Iowa: bills advance to tie state judicial salaries to that of federal judges
February 20 Montana: Senate rejects bills to prohibit a judge from serving as chair of the judicial standards commission
February 13 Wyoming:  Senate rejects a bill that would remove judicial review of educational funding levels.
February 6

Montana: House approves bill to require supreme court deliberations be recorded and subject to public inspection

January 30 Montana: Senate approves bill to make State bar voluntary for lawyers
January 23 Montana: House votes to repeal law preventing political parties from contributing to judicial candidates
January 16 Montana: Legislature considering 2 dozen bills impacting the judiciary in general and focused on the state's supreme court in particular
January 9 Maryland and Texas:  7 prefiled bills to revise state judicial disciplinary procedures and/or systems. Maryland bills focus on judicial financial disclosures
 

2023 Newsletters

May 26 Louisiana and Alabama: Judgeship allocations
May 19 Arizona: Legislature approves bill to transfer licensing of attorneys from state bar to the supreme court and prohibits the court from requiring an attorney to be a member of any organization to become or remain a licensed attorney
May 12 Delaware: House unanimously approves measure that requires at least one supreme court justice to reside in Kent County, one in Sussex County, and two in New Castle County
May 5 Kansas: Under a newly signed law starting in 2025 Kansas judges' salaries will be directly tied to that of federal district court judges; a similar plan was vetoed in New Mexico earlier this year
April 28 Minnesota and Missouri: Legislation to protect the personal information of judges, court staff, and their families advance
April 21 Colorado: House approves a bill requiring all courts to provide remote access for the public to observe any criminal court proceeding conducted in open court
April 14 Colorado, Montana, and Tennessee: Bills focused on judicial disciplinary proceedings and commissions advance
April 7 Montana: House and Senate approve separate plans to require judges to recuse for campaign contributions
March 31 New Hampshire: Constitutional amendment to raise the mandatory judicial retirement age from 70 to 75
March 24 Maine:  Bill would shrink the state's Supreme Judicial Court from 7 members down to 5
March 17 Idaho: Senate approves plan to overhaul that state's judicial selection system and give its governor more power
March 10 New Mexico: Plan to tie state judicial salaries to the salary of federal magistrate judges advances
March 2 Montana: Resolution to declare Marbury v. Madison misinterpreted approved by the full Senate
Feb. 24 Utah: Senate approves bill to overhaul state's judicial selection/nominating commissions
Feb. 17 Virginia: Bills to protect the personal information of retired judges advance in House and Senate
Feb. 10 Colorado: Legislation would mandate remote public access to criminal proceedings
Feb. 3 Texas and North Dakota: Considering bills to make leaking draft judicial opinions misdemeanors
Jan. 27 New York: Bill would require judges' financial disclosure statements to be posted online
Jan. 20 Missouri: Bills would require judges to render decisions within specified time frames or face $100-a-day fines