Senate Joint Resolution 13 - Introduced SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 13 BY SORENSON SENA TE JOINT RESOLUTION A Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution 1 of the State of Iowa requiring supreme court justices to be 2 elected. 3 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 1513SS (5) 84 jm/rj

S.J.R. 13 Section 1. The following amendment to the Constitution of 1 the State of Iowa is proposed: 2 1. Section 2 of Article V of the Constitution of the State 3 of Iowa is amended beginning July 1, 2015, to read as follows: 4 Supreme court. SEC. 2. The general assembly shall provide, 5 by law, for the statewide election of supreme court judges 6 at the time of the judicial election. Except as provided in 7 section 10 of this article, the supreme court shall consist of 8 three judges, two of whom shall constitute a quorum to hold 9 court , and whose term of office shall be six years or until a 10 successor is elected and qualifies . 11 2. Section 15 of Article V of the Constitution of the 12 State of Iowa, as added by the Amendment of 1962, is amended 13 beginning July 1, 2015, to read as follows: 14 Vacancies in courts. SEC. 15. Vacancies in the supreme 15 court and district court shall be filled by appointment by the 16 governor from lists of nominees submitted by the appropriate 17 district judicial nominating commission. Three nominees shall 18 be submitted for each supreme court vacancy, and two Two 19 nominees shall be submitted for each district court vacancy. 20 If the governor fails for thirty days to make the appointment, 21 it the appointment shall be made from such nominees by the 22 chief justice of the supreme court. 23 3. Section 16, unnumbered paragraph 1, of Article V of the 24 Constitution of the State of Iowa, as added by the Amendment 25 of 1962, is amended beginning July 1, 2015, by striking the 26 unnumbered paragraph. 27 4. Section 16, unnumbered paragraph 3, of Article V of the 28 Constitution of the State of Iowa, as added by the Amendment of 29 1962, is amended beginning July 1, 2015, to read as follows: 30 Due consideration shall be given to area representation in 31 the appointment and election of district judicial nominating 32 commission members. Appointive and elective members of the 33 district judicial nominating commissions shall serve for 34 six-year terms, shall be ineligible for a second six-year term 35 -1- LSB 1513SS (5) 84 jm/rj 1/ 3

S.J.R. 13 on the same commission, shall hold no office of profit of the 1 United States or of the state during their terms, shall be 2 chosen without reference to political affiliation, and shall 3 have such other qualifications as may be prescribed by law. As 4 near as may be, the terms of one-third of such members shall 5 expire every two years. 6 5. Section 17 of Article V of the Constitution of the 7 State of Iowa, as added by the Amendment of 1962, is amended 8 beginning July 1, 2015, to read as follows: 9 Terms —— judicial elections. SEC. 17. Members of all 10 courts , except the supreme court, shall have such tenure in 11 office as may be fixed by law, but terms of supreme court 12 judges shall be not less than eight years and the terms 13 of district court judges shall be not less than six years. 14 Judges , other than supreme court judges, shall serve for one 15 year after appointment and until the first day of January 16 following the next judicial election after the expiration of 17 such year. They shall at such judicial election stand for 18 retention in office on a separate ballot which shall submit the 19 question of whether such judge shall be retained in office for 20 the tenure prescribed for such office and when such tenure is a 21 term of years, on their request, they shall, at the judicial 22 election next before the end of each term, stand again for 23 retention on such ballot. Present supreme court and district 24 court judges, at the expiration of their respective terms, may 25 be retained in office in like manner for the tenure prescribed 26 for such office. The general assembly shall prescribe the time 27 for holding judicial elections. 28 Sec. 2. REFERRAL AND PUBLICATION. The foregoing amendment 29 to the Constitution of the State of Iowa is referred to the 30 general assembly to be chosen at the next general election 31 for members of the general assembly, and the secretary of 32 state is directed to cause the same to be published for three 33 consecutive months previous to the date of that election as 34 provided by law. 35 -2- LSB 1513SS (5) 84 jm/rj 2/ 3

S.J.R. 13 EXPLANATION 1 This joint resolution proposes an amendment to the 2 Constitution of the State of Iowa requiring the justices of 3 the supreme court to be elected to a term of office of every 4 six years on a statewide basis. The constitution currently 5 requires each justice of the supreme court to be retained in 6 office every eight years after serving an initial term of 7 office of up to two years immediately after appointment. 8 The general assembly established the number of supreme court 9 justices at seven in Code section 602.4101 under the authority 10 of article V, section 10, of the Iowa constitution. The number 11 of supreme court justices shall not fall below three justices 12 under article V, section 2, of the Iowa constitution. 13 The resolution does not impact the nomination and 14 appointment process for other judicial officers. 15 The resolution, if adopted, would be referred to the next 16 general assembly (Eighty-fifth) for adoption before the 17 amendment is submitted to the electorate for ratification. 18 The resolution if adopted and ratified by the electorate 19 takes effect July 1, 2015. 20 -3- LSB 1513SS (5) 84 jm/rj 3/ 3