Bill Text: SC H3798 | 2021-2022 | 124th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Judges elections
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-02-02 - Referred to Committee on Judiciary [H3798 Detail]
Download: South_Carolina-2021-H3798-Introduced.html
A BILL
TO AMEND SECTION 2-19-90, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE ELECTION OF JUDGES BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN JOINT SESSION, SO AS TO DELETE THE PROHIBITION ON NOMINATING OR SECONDING SPEECHES AND SPECIFICALLY ALLOW SUCH SPEECHES, AND TO REQUIRE A ROLL CALL VOTE ON THE ELECTION OF EACH JUDGE WHETHER OR NOT THE ELECTION IS CONTESTED.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 2-19-90 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 2-19-90. (A) The General Assembly shall meet in joint session for the election of judges. The date and time for the joint session shall be set by concurrent resolution upon the recommendation of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission. The Chairman of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission shall announce the commission's nominees for each judicial race, and no further nominating or seconding speeches shall be allowed by members of the General Assembly.
(B) In order to be elected, a candidate must receive a majority of the vote of the members of the General Assembly voting in joint session. The vote to elect any judge, whether the election is contested or not, must be a recorded roll call vote. For purposes of this subsection, 'recorded roll call vote' means a vote recorded in the journals of the respective houses of the General Assembly, which must be by yeas and nays and recorded by name."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
