HF1666 Bill Summary

• Proposes constitutional amendment to change judicial selection from elections to gubernatorial appointments from merit selection commission lists, with retention elections after eight-year terms instead of six-year elected terms.

• Establishes independent Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission with 24 members appointed by governor (8), Supreme Court (8), and legislature (8) to evaluate judges using nonpartisan standards including knowledge of law, integrity, impartiality, and temperament.

• Commission must conduct midterm evaluations and retention-year evaluations rating judges as "well-qualified," "qualified," or "unqualified," with results published at least one month before retention election filing deadline.

• Requires judges seeking retention to file affidavit of candidacy and be placed on general election ballot under nonpartisan designation; judges losing retention election cannot be appointed to fill resulting vacancy.

• Amends campaign finance law to require political committees making contributions exceeding $100 for judicial retention elections to register within 72 hours and file reports 42 and 10 days before retention election.