Senate Bill 2292 Summary

• Establishes the Special Committee on Judicial Election Campaign Intervention to be created in every year when elections are held for Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, chancery court, circuit court, or county court judges, with a 90-day duration following elections.

• Committee consists of 5 members appointed by judicial leaders (Chief Justice of Supreme Court, three Senior Justices of Supreme Court Districts 1-3, and Chief Judge of Court of Appeals), all of whom must be licensed attorneys and cannot be candidates or related to candidates in that election year.

• Requires all judicial candidates to submit notice of candidacy to the Commission on Judicial Performance within 10 days and complete a mandatory 2-hour ethics and campaign practices training course within 20 days of the qualifying date.

• Authorizes the committee to issue advisory opinions on campaign conduct, investigate allegations of Canon 5 violations, issue confidential cease-and-desist requests for unethical practices, and publicly release statements about violations if cease-and-desist orders are ignored.

• Committee must act within 10 days of requests and within 36 hours for requests received in the final 10 days of campaigns; disciplinary authority remains with the Commission on Judicial Performance.