Senate Joint Resolution 2006 - Introduced SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 2006 BY BEHN , BARTZ , WIECK , REYNOLDS , JOHNSON , KAPUCIAN , FEENSTRA , HARTSUCH , BOETTGER , ZAUN , HAMERLINCK , HOUSER , HAHN , KETTERING , and McKINLEY SENA TE JOINT RESOLUTION A Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution 1 of the State of Iowa relating to the appointment of nominees 2 to the supreme court by the governor. 3 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 5909XS (5) 83 jm/rj
S.J.R. 2006 Section 1. The following amendment to the Constitution of 1 the State of Iowa is proposed: 2 Section 15 of Article V of the Constitution of the State of 3 Iowa, as added by the Amendment of 1962, is amended to read as 4 follows: 5 Vacancies in courts. SEC. 15. Vacancies in the Supreme 6 Court and District Court shall be filled by appointment by the 7 Governor from lists of nominees submitted by the appropriate 8 judicial nominating commission. Three nominees shall be 9 submitted for each Supreme Court vacancy, and two nominees 10 shall be submitted for each District Court vacancy. If the 11 Governor fails for thirty days to make the an appointment 12 from the District Court nominees , it the appointment shall 13 be made from such the nominees by the Chief Justice of the 14 Supreme Court. The Governor may reject all three nominees for 15 a Supreme Court vacancy and the nomination process shall start 16 anew until the Governor appoints a nominee to fill the vacancy. 17 Sec. 2. REFERRAL AND PUBLICATION. The foregoing amendment 18 to the Constitution of the State of Iowa is referred to the 19 General Assembly to be chosen at the next general election 20 for members of the General Assembly, and the Secretary of 21 State is directed to cause the same to be published for three 22 consecutive months previous to the date of that election as 23 provided by law. 24 EXPLANATION 25 This joint resolution proposes an amendment to the 26 Constitution of the State of Iowa relating to the appointment 27 of nominees to the supreme court by the governor. 28 The resolution provides that the governor may reject 29 all three nominees for a supreme court vacancy by the state 30 judicial nominating commission, in which case, the nomination 31 process shall start anew until the governor appoints a nominee 32 to fill the vacancy. 33 The Constitution currently requires the governor to appoint 34 a nominee from the list of three nominees submitted by the 35 -1- LSB 5909XS (5) 83 jm/rj 1/ 2
S.J.R. 2006 state judicial nominating commission, and if the governor does 1 not make an appointment within 30 days of receiving the list of 2 nominees, the chief justice is required to make the appointment 3 from the list of such nominees. 4 The resolution, if adopted, would be referred to the next 5 General Assembly (Eighty-fourth) for adoption before the 6 amendment is submitted to the electorate for ratification. 7 -2- LSB 5909XS (5) 83 jm/rj 2/ 2