HB 23-1205 Summary

• Establishes an independent Office of the Judicial Discipline Ombudsman within the Judicial Department to provide confidential, informal assistance to complainants regarding judicial misconduct concerns.

• Creates a five-member Judicial Discipline Ombudsman Selection Board appointed by the Governor and legislative leaders (by January 1, 2024) to oversee the Ombudsman's hiring, performance evaluation, and budget with board members having experience in personnel management, human resources, financial management, ombudsman practice, or employee harassment/discrimination cases.

• Ombudsman duties include maintaining an anonymous reporting system, helping complainants understand their rights and the judicial discipline process, providing referrals to support services, collecting aggregated complaint data disaggregated by demographics, and serving as an advisor to the Commission on Judicial Discipline and the Department on rule changes.

• All communications between the Ombudsman and complainants are confidential and exempt from public records disclosure and mandatory reporting requirements, except when an imminent threat of bodily harm exists; the Ombudsman cannot conduct investigations or perform adversarial functions.

• Appropriates $100,453 to the Judicial Department and $100,453 to the Department of Law (0.5 FTE) for fiscal year 2023-24 to implement the office.