« Ind. Decisions - Supreme Court issues two today | Main | Courts - Where does new Democrat Spector stand on Dawn Johnsen and David Hamilton's nominations? »

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Ind. Courts - Conferees agreed to version of St. Joe judges selection bill [Updated]

So reports Ed Ronco for South Bend's WSBT. Here is the story (BTW - no CCR is available yet online, as of this writing):

Representatives of the Indiana House and Senate have agreed on a measure to move St. Joseph County Superior Court judges to nonpartisan elections.

The four legislators — a Republican and Democrat from both the House and Senate — signed off on House Bill 1491 on Tuesday, state Rep. Craig Fry said.

The nonpartisan elections called for in the measure would replace merit selection, the current system for selecting Superior Court judges under which a committee in the county submits finalists for the bench to Gov. Mitch Daniels, who makes the final decision.

Supporters of the bill said elections are necessary to hold judges accountable to the public. Critics said the bill would expose jurists to undue political influence and pressure.

The bill also puts fundraising limitations on Superior Court judges and expands the state’s appellate court.

The conference committee members were Fry, D-Mishawaka; state Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Jimtown; state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso; and state Sen. Jim Arnold, D-LaPorte.

Fry was the bill’s original author.

Procedurally, the conference committee’s report still must be approved by both the full Senate and House, but Fry said he didn’t anticipate any problems in the process.

Jane Jankowski, press secretary to Daniels, said the governor has yet to review the measure and she couldn’t comment on whether he’ll sign it.

[Updated at 7:41 PM] The CCR has now been posted. The language of the CCR would still establish a 6th COA panel, but would delay its operation until July 1, 2011 (rather than Jan. 1, 2011). That would mean no major additional funding would be required in the upcoming biennial budget.

Here are a number of earlier ILB entries on the St. Joseph County judges selection issue.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 28, 2009 05:29 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts