A review of state legislation affecting the courts
April 7, 2023 -- Since 2006, Gavel to Gavel has tracked state-by-state legislative activity with potential impact on state courts.
Notable legislation includes:
- Montana House and Senate approve separate plans to require judges to recuse for campaign contributions; House version provides contributions over $10,000 in supreme court races and $5,000 in other judicial races by a lawyer or law firm would force recusal.
- Montana House approves constitutional amendment that ends supreme court elections. HB 915 allows the governor to appoint supreme court justices subject to senate confirmation.
- Arizona Senate approves (16-14) plan to replace the current county-based retention election process for judges on the Arizona Court of Appeals with a statewide retention election process.
- Texas constitutional amendment to ban per curium decisions advances; implementing legislation provides that "The authorship of an opinion published by a court is public information. A court shall list the authors of any opinion published by the court."
- Mississippi House and Senate agree to plan to create a court system specifically for the capitol area; judges of the Capitol Complex Improvement District court would be appointed by Chief Justice and not elected.
- Judicial salaries: Texas House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence committee approves plan to increase district court judges salaries automatically based on Consumer Price Index. Kansas House Ways & Means committee approves plan to directly tie state judicial salaries to that of federal judges; Kansas District Court judges would make 75% of the salary of a U.S. District Court judge.