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Committee approves bill letting appellate judicial appointees use office titles on nonpartisan ballots
Summary
The Senate State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee passed House Bill 12-23 to allow court of appeals and supreme court appointees who have served 12 months to use their office-holder title as a ballot prefix in nonpartisan judicial elections, aligning treatment with district and circuit court appointees.
House Bill 12-23 passed the Senate State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee after a brief presentation and no public opposition.
Representative David Ray, sponsor of the bill, told the committee the measure “deals with the use of office holder titles, as a prefix on the ballot for certain judicial appointees.” He said current law allows appointees to district and circuit courts who have served at least 12 months to use a title on the ballot, but “if you're an appointee to the court of appeals or the supreme court, under the exact same set of circumstances, you can't use your title.”
Ray said he was “not aware of any policy reason for this distinction” and framed the bill as bringing parity across the four court positions. There were no questions from committee members and no registered proponents or opponents.
Senator Peyton moved to pass the bill; Senator Sullivan seconded. The committee voiced approval and the chair announced, “Congratulations. Your bill passes.”
The measure, as explained in committee, is limited to allowing use of an office-holder title as a ballot prefix in a nonpartisan judicial race for appointees who have held the office for at least 12 months; no changes to other election or judicial qualification rules were discussed during the hearing.
Votes at the hearing were taken by voice; no roll-call tally was provided in the transcript. The committee did not record amendments or further directions to staff.
