Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Elections Judiciary topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate approves bill letting parties choose caucus or primary for certain judicial vacancies
Summary
SB 367, with an amendment, allows parties in multi-county judiciary districts to hold a caucus to nominate candidates for vacancies occurring after the 180-day primary-notice deadline, or to hold a primary if time allows; the Senate passed the bill with recorded ayes of 29 and no nays.
The Tennessee Senate passed SB 367 after floor debate and the adoption of an amendment from the State and Local Government Committee.
Chairman Briggs described the bill as addressing narrow circumstances in which vacancies occur in multi-county judiciary offices (judges, district attorneys and public defenders) after parties have missed the 180-day notification deadline that triggers primaries. He said the bill "would allow the judiciary districts ... to decide if we wanna have a primary or do we not wanna have a primary, and how we're going to choose the candidates," and that where time is short the parties could hold a caucus to nominate a candidate who would carry the party label into the general election.
Senator Yarbrough and others raised concerns about clarity and public notice, saying the statutory language is complex and may require further study; Chairman Briggs said the measure is narrow in scope and only applies to multi-county judicial districts, not single-county districts such as Shelby County. The clerk recorded 29 ayes and no nays on final passage.
