Bill Text: IA HJR2002 | 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 terms of supreme court justices.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-22 - Subcommittee: Windschitl, Gustafson and Oldson. H.J. 129. [HJR2002 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2017-HJR2002-Introduced.html

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House Joint Resolution 2002 - 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 terms of supreme court
  3    justices.
  4 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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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 courts
  1  8 shall have such tenure in office as may be fixed by law, but
  1  9 terms of supreme court judges shall be not less than eight
  1 10  four years and terms of district court judges shall be not
  1 11 less than six years.  Judges shall serve for one year after
  1 12 appointment and until the first day of January following the
  1 13 next judicial election after the expiration of such year.
  1 14 They shall at such judicial election stand for retention in
  1 15 office on a separate ballot which shall submit the question of
  1 16 whether such judge shall be retained in office for the tenure
  1 17 prescribed for such office and when such tenure is a term of
  1 18 years, on their request, they shall, at the judicial election
  1 19 next before the end of each term, stand again for retention on
  1 20 such ballot.  Present supreme court and district court judges,
  1 21 at the expiration of their respective terms, may be retained in
  1 22 office in like the manner for the tenure prescribed for such
  1 23 office.  The general assembly shall prescribe the time for
  1 24 holding judicial elections.
  1 25    Sec. 2.  REFERRAL AND PUBLICATION.  The foregoing proposed
  1 26 amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa is referred
  1 27 to the general assembly to be chosen at the next general
  1 28 election for members of the general assembly, and the secretary
  1 29 of state is directed to cause the proposed amendment to be
  1 30 published for three consecutive months previous to the date of
  1 31 that election as provided by law.
  1 32                           EXPLANATION
  1 33 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  1 34 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  1 35    This joint resolution proposes an amendment to the
  2  1 Constitution of the State of Iowa relating to the terms of
  2  2 supreme court justices.
  2  3    The resolution modifies the term of a supreme court justice
  2  4 from not less than eight years to not less than four years,
  2  5 beginning January 1, 2021. The initial term of a supreme court
  2  6 justice shall be for one year after appointment and until
  2  7 January 1 following the next judicial election. After standing
  2  8 for retention for the initial term, the supreme court justice
  2  9 shall stand for retention before the electorate every four
  2 10 years.
  2 11    The resolution, if adopted, would be published and then
  2 12 referred to the next general assembly (88th) for adoption,
  2 13 before being submitted to the electorate for ratification.
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