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Judicial Elections Bill Slated for Hearing
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Coming up today for a hearing before the Assembly Elections Committee is a proposed constitutional amendment authorizing legislation that would keep the names of appellate court justices off the ballot unless a petition has been filed, with a sufficient number of signatures, contesting the retention of a particular member of a court of appeal or the Supreme Court.
ACA-8, authored by Assembly member Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz, would add this language to Art. VI, §16:
“The Legislature may provide by statute that the name of a judge of the Supreme Court or a court of appeal who files a declaration of candidacy shall not appear on the ballot, and instead the judge shall be deemed elected, unless a petition requesting that the judges name appear on the ballot is filed by a requisite number of registered voters qualified to vote for the office.”
The measure leaves to the Legislature to specify, should a bill be introduced, what the requisite number would be.
Appellate court justices are elected to 12-year terms.
To qualify for the ballot, a two-thirds vote of both houses would be required.
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