THE JUDICIAL CONDUCT Commission created by the Legislature could gain the additional responsibility of conducting public hearings to evaluate every state judge every seven years under a bill that passed the NH House of Representatives last month. Passed by a 219-112 House vote, HB 1100 now faces Senate action.

The bill would provide $375,000 in administrative expenses for the commission for the periodic reviews. The 11-member commission, whose members are appointed by all branches of government, includes two members nominated by the NH Bar Association. The commission was initially created to hear discipline complaints against judges, but legislators favoring judicial reform introduced the bill after several other judicial accountability measures failed. However, Commission Chair and former House Speaker Donna Sytek had complained that her panel was not equipped to handle the additional burdens of conducting regular reviews of the state’s 126 judges, including 69 part-time district court judges.

Under the bill, the JCC’s evaluations would culminate in recommendations to the Legislature regarding the future tenure of the judges.

The Bar Association provided information on the bill, not opposing the legislation but pointing out details that would have to be worked out to implement the concept. One concern voiced by NHBA President Peter Hutchins was that it is premature to replace the evaluation process implemented as a response to recent legislation. This process includes public input through surveys and evaluations conducted by the administrative judges of each court, covering each judge every three years. The first round of these judicial evaluations was completed at the end of 2001, and notice of the judges being reviewed this year is published on page 23 of this issue.

HB 1100 also authorizes the Judicial Conduct Commission to seek legal expenses for an expected challenge to its authority in reviewing disciplinary complaints. The enabling legislation mandates public hearings and deliberations for the commission, a controversial aspect that may ultimately lead to litigation by a judge who is the subject of a complaint before the legislatively created JCC, which was intended to replace the Supreme Court’s Judicial Conduct Committee. However, the Court did not discontinue its committee and legislators anticipate that at some point the conflict between the branches will be tested on the issue of who has the authority to consider judicial discipline complaints.

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