Rep. Jeff Leach
Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Plano), chair of the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee, has introduced legislation to make significant improvements in education requirements for newly elected judges and justices and to provide more information for voters about candidates for the bench. The proposed legislation is part of a joint effort by the Citizens for Judicial Excellence in Texas (CJET), TCJL, and various bar groups to address judicial qualifications. Last session, as you may recall, these organizations backed a constitutional amendment doubling the practice requirements for election to the bench.
HB 2384 does the following:
- Requires a judicial candidate’s ballot application to include the candidate’s bar number, to disclose any public sanction or censure or disciplinary sanctions in Texas or another state, to state for the previous five-year period the nature of the candidate’s practice, any legal specialization, the candidate’s professional courtroom experience, and any final conviction for a Class A or B misdemeanor in the past 10 years. Further requires candidates for appellate courts to describe appellate court briefs and oral arguments for the past five years.
- Makes public any sanction against a judicial candidate for making a false declaration on the ballot application.
- Directs the Supreme Court to adopt rules on judicial training a judge must complete within one year of election to the bench. Requires the rules to provide a minimum of 30 hours of instruction on the administrative duties of the office and substantive, procedural, and evidentiary law. Requires a further 16 hours of continuing education annually. Requires the Judicial Conduct Commission to suspend a judge who does not complete the training.
- Provides that a judge who is noncompliant with the education requirement for more than one year engages in “wilful or persistent conduct that is clearly inconsistent with the proper performance of a judge’s duties” sufficient to subject the judge to removal from office under Art. V, § 1-a, Texas Constitution.
- Directs the director of Office of Court Administration (OCA) to develop standards for identifying courts that need additional assistance to promote the efficient administration of justice.
- Directs the OCA to include disaggregated performance measures for each appellate, district, statutory county, and county court as part of its annual performance report.
- Directs OCA to report the annual clearance rate for each trial court.
- Directs local district grievance committees to sanction attorneys that make false declarations on a ballot application.
- Directs the Supreme Court to adopt rules establishing a specialty certification for attorneys in judicial administration and the Texas Board of Legal Specialization to make it available to judges. Provides that a judge who holds a specialty certification in judicial administration may be entitled to additional compensation if the legislature makes an appropriation for that purpose.
HB 2384 is TCJL’s top legislative priority this session. We believe that this legislation has the potential, over time, to do more to improve the administration of justice than any other proposal on this subject. By creating a more robust and uniform standard for judicial training and education, HB 2384 will equally benefit the courts, the litigants, and all Texans who are entitled to the highest level of skill and competence from their judges.
