H.F. 2719 Section 1. NEW SECTION . 46.26 Judicial officer performance 1 information. 2 1. The state commissioner of elections shall collect 3 and publish objective, data-driven information, expressed as 4 unadjusted numbers and adjusted percentile ranks, related to 5 each district court judge including district associate judges, 6 full-time associate juvenile judges, and full-time associate 7 probate judges. 8 a. The information must include all of the following: 9 (1) The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond 10 amount lower than the bond schedule promulgated pursuant to 11 section 804.21, subsection 5, categorized by offense class. 12 (2) The frequency with which a person is released on 13 the person’s own recognizance by the judge when the person 14 is arrested for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent 15 offense, categorized by offense class. 16 (3) The frequency with which the judge’s final sentence is 17 lower than the statutory recommendation or the prosecutor’s 18 recommendation, categorized by offense class. 19 (4) The number of times the judge grants a deferred 20 judgment, deferred sentence, or suspended sentence. 21 (5) The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed 22 by the court of appeals or the supreme court due to abuse of 23 discretion or error of law, including the percentage of the 24 total number of the judge’s opinions or orders appealed in the 25 same time period, with the total number of appeals displayed as 26 the denominator, categorized by issue type. 27 (6) The average time from the filing of a motion or 28 submission of a case for ruling to the judge’s final ruling on 29 the motion or case. 30 (7) The number of cases the judge has disposed of compared 31 to the number of outstanding cases remain on the judge’s docket 32 each year. 33 b. Beginning five years after the effective date of this 34 Act, each metric must include a five-year rolling trend line. 35 -1- HF 2719 (2) 91 lh/ns/md 1/ 5

H.F. 2719 c. The information collected under this subsection 1 must be available for public download in an electronic, 2 machine-readable open format. All data and adjusted metrics 3 must be equally prominent and equally accessible. 4 2. a. The judicial branch shall provide the state 5 commissioner of elections with read-only access to all publicly 6 available information on the Iowa court information system 7 within one year of the effective date of this Act. 8 b. The state court administrator shall annually certify the 9 accuracy and completeness of the information made available 10 under paragraph “a” during the period beginning November 1 and 11 ending December 31. 12 c. The state court administrator shall report any material 13 discrepancies in the information to the general assembly. 14 3. Within eighteen months of the effective date of this Act, 15 the state commissioner of elections shall submit a methodology 16 report to the general assembly that contains all of the 17 following: 18 a. A case complexity index assigning weighted scores to 19 each case type based on objective criteria including statutory 20 penalty range, number of parties, number of hearings, length of 21 the trial or contested hearing, and whether the case involved a 22 constitutional challenge or question of first impression. 23 b. The method for assigning judges to peer groups of 24 comparable docket composition. 25 c. The mathematical formula for each adjusted metric 26 including expression of the adjusted metric as a percentile 27 rank within the judge’s peer group and judicial district. 28 d. The minimum case volume threshold for statistical 29 confidence under subsection 4. 30 e. The criteria for distinguishing required opinions and 31 orders under subsection 5, paragraph “a” . 32 4. Any metric based on fewer cases than the ninety percent 33 statistical confidence at one standard deviation must display, 34 in boldface type, the following phrase immediately adjacent to 35 -2- HF 2719 (2) 91 lh/ns/md 2/ 5

H.F. 2719 the metric: 1 RELIABILITY WARNING: This figure is based on a small number 2 of cases and may not accurately reflect this judge’s typical 3 performance. 4 5. a. The state commissioner of elections shall maintain 5 an online searchable public repository of all written opinions 6 and orders that disclose a judge’s reasoning, legal analysis, 7 factual findings, or conclusions of law for each judge’s 8 current term and the six preceding years to the extent 9 available. In cases of ambiguity, the state commissioner of 10 elections shall err on the side of inclusion. 11 b. Beginning one year after the effective date of this Act, 12 the state court administrator shall provide the opinions and 13 orders required under paragraph “a” electronically each month 14 to the state commissioner of elections. 15 c. The state commissioner of elections shall publish the 16 opinions and orders as searchable documents with redactions 17 consistent with Iowa court rules. The redacted documents 18 must note the category of information redacted. Documents 19 subject to a protective order, that are sealed, or that are 20 otherwise confidential under law shall not be posted. The 21 state commissioner of elections shall provide a notice in place 22 of the document identifying the date the document was issued, 23 the general subject matter to the extent disclosable, and the 24 reason for nonproduction. 25 d. The online searchable public repository shall support 26 full-text search by keyword, date range, case type, and party 27 type. 28 6. The state commissioner of elections shall maintain an 29 internet site that includes all of the following: 30 a. A search by judicial district, county, and judge name. 31 b. (1) A profile page for each judge displaying the 32 unadjusted numbers and adjusted metrics required under 33 subsection 1, with peer group and judicial district 34 comparisons, and trend lines where applicable, and a link to 35 -3- HF 2719 (2) 91 lh/ns/md 3/ 5

H.F. 2719 the online searchable public repository under subsection 5. 1 (2) The state commissioner of elections shall not add 2 narrative interpretation or editorial commentary to any judge’s 3 profile page beyond what this section expressly authorizes and 4 shall not filter or selectively present information in the 5 online searchable public repository. 6 c. (1) A space for each judge’s personal statement on 7 judicial philosophy or data trends, not to exceed two thousand 8 words. 9 (2) The state commissioner of elections shall not edit the 10 judge’s personal statement except to enforce the word limit or 11 remove verifiably false content after providing notice and an 12 opportunity to revise the personal statement to the judge. 13 d. The methodology report under subsection 3. 14 e. An annual report, to also be submitted to the general 15 assembly, on data collected, documents posted, anomalies, 16 deviations from methodology, and disclaimer acknowledgment 17 statistics. 18 7. a. The state commissioner of elections shall create a 19 standalone internet page for a person to acknowledge the notice 20 under paragraph “b” prior to accessing a judge’s profile page. 21 b. The standalone internet page shall require a person to 22 check a box to acknowledge the following statement: 23 IMPORTANT NOTICE —— PLEASE READ BEFORE PROCEEDING 24 This information is published by the Iowa secretary of state 25 to assist voters in judicial retention elections. Statistics 26 reflect caseload composition as much as judicial performance 27 and do not measure whether a judge reached the correct result. 28 Reversal rates cover only appealed cases. Sentencing and bond 29 departures may be legally appropriate exercises of judicial 30 discretion. Written opinions reflect judicial reasoning 31 but not the full underlying record. Metrics flagged with a 32 reliability warning should be given little or no weight. In 33 reviewing this information, the reader will please remember 34 that every lawsuit is different, with different parties, 35 -4- HF 2719 (2) 91 lh/ns/md 4/ 5

H.F. 2719 different facts, and different applicable legal principles. 1 Accordingly, any attempt, such as the information presented 2 on the following page, to reduce such complexity to mere 3 statistics is inherently imperfect. 4 [ ] I understand and wish to proceed. 5 8. This section does not authorize the state commissioner of 6 elections to supervise, direct, or regulate any judge. 7 9. a. The state commissioner of elections may adopt rules 8 pursuant to chapter 17A to administer this section. A rule 9 adopted by the state commissioner of elections pursuant to 10 chapter 17A for purposes of this section shall not become 11 effective until it is ratified by the general assembly by 12 passage of a joint resolution subject to approval of the 13 governor. 14 b. If the state commissioner of elections determines that 15 such a rule must become effective while the general assembly is 16 not in session, the state commissioner of elections may request 17 temporary approval of the rule by the legislative council. 18 The rule shall become effective upon temporary approval by 19 the legislative council. A rule temporarily approved by the 20 legislative council shall cease to be effective upon the 21 adjournment of the next regular session of the general assembly 22 following the effective date of the rule unless the general 23 assembly ratifies the rule before adjournment. 24 c. The administrative code editor shall publish a notice in 25 the Iowa administrative bulletin if such a rule is ratified, 26 temporarily approved, or ceases to be effective. If such a 27 rule ceases to be effective, the administrative code editor 28 shall remove the rule from the Iowa administrative code as 29 soon as practicable, but no sooner than two weeks after such 30 publication. 31 -5- HF 2719 (2) 91 lh/ns/md 5/ 5