A bill

 

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTIONS 2-19-5, 2-19-20, 2-19-30, 2-19-35, 2-19-50, 2-19-60 AND 2-19-70, ALL RELATING TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA JUDICIAL MERIT SELECTION COMMISSION SCREENING AND ELECTION OF JUSTICES AND JUDGES, SO AS TO REVISE THE STAFFING AND APPOINTMENT PROCESS OF THE COMMISSION AND TRANSFER THAT AUTHORITY TO THE GOVERNOR, TO PROHIBIT SITTING MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND CERTAIN FAMILY MEMBERS FROM SERVING ON THE COMMISSION, TO PROHIBIT THE COMMISSION FROM CONSIDERING DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION CRITERIA ALONG WITH OTHER SIMILAR CRITERIA, AND TO MAKE CONFORMING CHANGES.

 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

 

SECTION 1.  Section 2-19-5 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    Section 2-19-5.  (A) There is created the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission. The commission must be staffed by the Governor's Office. composed of twelve members who must be appointed as follows:

       (1) four members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and of these appointments:

           (a) three members must be members of the House of Representatives;  and

           (b) one member must be selected from the South Carolina Bar who must be a member of the Bar in good standing with ten years' experience in the practice of law;

       (2) four members appointed by the Senate and of these appointments:

           (a) two members must be appointed by the President of the Senate one of whom must be a member of the Senate and one of whom must be selected from the South Carolina Bar and must be a member in good standing with ten years' experience in the practice of law;  and

           (b) two members must be appointed by the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee both of whom must be members of the Senate;  and

       (3) four members appointed by the Governor all of which must be members in good standing of the South Carolina Bar with at least ten years' experience in the practice of law.

The commission shall be composed of twelve members who must be appointed by the Governor as follows:

       (1) eight members must be members of the South Carolina Bar in good standing;

       (2) no more than four members may be law enforcement professionals; and

       (3) no individual currently holding a seat in the General Assembly of either chamber shall be eligible to serve on the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, nor shall their spouse, children, or siblings. Former members of the General Assembly must wait no fewer than two years before qualifying for selection by the Governor to the commission. Their spouse, children, or siblings must also wait no fewer than two years before qualifying following the member vacating their seat.

    (B) No person is eligible for appointment if he individually contributed to athe Governor's campaign of one of the appointing authorities in the most recent election.  Nonlegislative members may not be a public employee or serve in another elected office.

    (C) Members of the commission shall serve for a term of two years and may serve no more than two consecutive terms.  However, a member of the House of Representatives or Senate who ceases to serve as a member of the General Assembly will have his service on the commission terminated upon the end of his service in the General Assembly.  Additionally, a member appointed to fill a vacancy in an unexpired term may serve two full terms thereafter.  The initial appointments must be made as follows:

       (1) one member each appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives pursuant to subsection (A)(1)(a) and (b) shall serve an initial term of one year and may be reappointed to a following two-year term;

       (2) one member each appointed by the President of the Senate and the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee pursuant to subsection (A)(2)(a) and (b) shall serve an initial term of one year and may be reappointed to a following two-year term;  and

       (3) two members appointed by the Governor pursuant to subsection (A)(3) shall serve an initial term of one year and may be reappointed to a following two-year term.

    (D) In making appointments to the commission, race, gender, national origin, and other demographic factors shall be considered to ensure nondiscrimination to the greatest extent possible as to all segments of the population of the State.

    (E)(D) A vacancy on the commission must be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the same manner as provided for the original selection.

    (F)(E) Members of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission serving on the effective date of this act who have served more than four years on the commission are not eligible for appointment to the commission pursuant to the provisions of this act except for the current chairman and vice chairman who can serve a two-year term but then may not serve a successive term.

    (G)(F) No member of the commission shall receive any compensation for commission services, except those set by law for travel, board, and lodging expenses incurred in the performance of commission duties.

    (H)(G) No member of the commission is eligible for nomination and appointment as a judge or justice of the state court system or administrative law court while serving on the commission and for a period of one year thereafter.  If a candidate is a family member of a member of the commission, the member must resign.  For the purposes of this subsection, "family member" means a spouse, parent, brother, sister, child, step-child, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, grandparent, or grandchild.

 

SECTION 2.  Section 2-19-20(D) of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    (D) Any person wishing to seek a judicial office, which is elected by the General Assembly, shall file a notice of intention to seek the office with the commission.  Upon receipt of the notice of intention, the commission shall begin to conduct the investigation of the candidate as it considers appropriate and may in theIn the course of an  investigation, the commission may utilize the services of any agency of state government.  This agency shall, upon request, cooperate fully with the commission.

 

SECTION 3.  Section 2-19-30 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    Section 2-19-30. (A) Upon completion of the investigation, the Chairman of the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission shall schedule a public hearing concerning the qualifications of the candidates. Any person who desires to testify at the hearing, including candidates, shall furnish a written statement of his proposed testimony to the commission no later than two weeksseventy-two hours prior to the date and time set for the hearing unless sufficient cause is determined by the commission for allowing the submitting individual's testimony after the deadline. The commission shall determine the persons who shall testify at the hearing. All testimony, including documents furnished to the commission, must be submitted under oath and persons knowingly furnishing false information either orally or in writing are subject to the penalties provided by law for perjury and false swearing.

    (B) During the course of the investigation, the commission may schedule an executivea public session at which each candidate, and other persons whom the commission wishes to interview, may be interviewed by the commission on matters pertinent to the candidate's qualification for the office to be filled.  All confidential information may be reserved for an executive session which the commission may schedule.

    (C) At a reasonable time thereafter the commission shall render its tentative findings as to whether the candidate is qualified for the office to be filled and its reasons therefor as to each candidate.

    (D) As soon as possible after the completion of the hearing, a verbatim copy of the testimony, documents submitted at the hearing, and findings of fact must be transcribed and published or otherwise made available in a reasonable number of copies to the members of both houses prior to the date of the scheduled election, and a copy shall be furnished to each candidate and anyone else upon request for free.  A charge for these copies may be made as authorized in the Freedom of Information Act.

    (E) A candidate may withdraw at any time prior to the public hearing or after the draft report is issued to members of the General Assembly. The information concerning a withdrawn candidate also shall be exempt from disclosure pursuant to Chapter 4 of Title 30. However, all materials concerning the candidate must be retained and may not be destroyed by the commission.

    (F) All of the commission's public hearings shall be live streamed except for the portions of the hearings conducted in executive session.

 

SECTION 4.  Section 2-19-35(B) of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    (B) Race, gender, national origin, and other demographic factors shall be considered by the commission to ensure nondiscrimination to the greatest extent possible as to all segments of the population of the State. In making nominations and appointments, and in all affairs of the commission, race, gender, sex, sexual preference, color, religion, national origin and other intersectional identifiers, markers, or any diversity, equity, and inclusion criteria, philosophy, or frameworks, shall not be considered by the commission at any time, for any reason.

 

SECTION 5.  Section 2-19-50 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    Section 2-19-50. All records, information, and other material that the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission has obtained or used to make its findings of fact, except materials, records, and information presented under oath at the public hearing, or records which were not otherwise or previously confidential, must be kept strictly confidential. The information required to be kept confidential also shall be exempt from disclosure pursuant to Chapter 4, Title 30.

 

SECTION 6.  Section 2-19-60 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    Section 2-19-60. (A) The South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission, strictly and only in the discharge of its duties in selecting and vetting viable candidates, may administer oaths and affirmations, take depositions, and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records considered necessary in connection with the investigation of the candidate.

    (B) No person shall be excused from attending and testifying or from producing books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, or other records before the commission on the ground that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of him may tend to incriminate him or subject him to a penalty or forfeiture.  But no individual shall be prosecuted or subjected to any punishment, forfeiture, or criminal or civil penalty based upon testimony or evidence submitted or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which he is compelled, after having claimed his privilege against self-incrimination, to testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, except that the individual so testifying shall not be exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury and false swearing committed in so testifying.

    (C) In case of contumacy by any person or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to any person, any circuit court of this State or circuit judge within the jurisdiction of which the person guilty of contumacy or refusal to obey is found, resides, or transacts business, upon application by the commission may issue to this person an order requiring him to appear before the commission to produce evidence if so ordered or to give testimony touching the matter under investigation. Any failure to obey an order of the court may be punished as a contempt. Subpoenas shall be issued in the name of the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission and shall be signed by the commission chairman. Subpoenas shall be issued to those persons as the commission may designate.

 

SECTION 7.  Section 2-19-70 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    Section 2-19-70. (A) No member of the General Assembly may be elected to a judicial office while he is serving in the General Assembly nor shall that person be elected to a judicial office for a period of one year after he either:

       (1) ceases to be a member of the General Assembly;  or

       (2) fails to file for election to the General Assembly in accordance with Section 7-11-15.

    (B) The privilege of the floor in either house of the General Assembly may not be granted to any candidate or any immediate family member of a candidate unless the family member is serving in the General Assembly, during the time the candidate's application is pending before the commission and during the time his nomination by the commission for election to a particular judicial office is pending in the General Assembly.

    (C) No person may seek, directly or indirectly, the pledge of a member of the General Assembly's vote or, directly or indirectly, contact a member of the General Assembly regarding screening for the judicial office until the qualifications of all candidates for that office have been determined by the Judicial Merit Selection Commission and the commission has formally released its report as to the qualifications of all candidates for the vacancy to the General Assembly. No member of the General Assembly may offer his pledge to any person until the qualifications of all candidates for that office have been determined by the Judicial Merit Selection Commission and until the commission has formally released its report as to the qualifications of its nominees to the General Assembly. The formal release of the report of qualifications shall occur no earlier than twelve days after the nominees have been initially released to members of the General Assembly. For purposes of this section, indirectly seeking a pledge means the candidate, or someone acting on behalf of and at the request of the candidate, requesting a person to contact a member of the General Assembly on behalf of the candidate before nominations for that office are formally made by the commission. Prior to the formal release of the report as to the qualifications of judicial candidates, a person may not request that a member of the General Assembly, nor may a member of the General Assembly offer to, act on behalf of a candidate in furtherance of the candidate's candidacy in any capacity including, but not limited to, acting as a vote counter for a candidate. The prohibitions of this section do not extend to an announcement of candidacy by a person and statements by the candidate detailing the candidate's qualifications.

    (D) No member of the General Assembly may trade anything of value, including pledges to vote for legislation or for other candidates now or in the future, in exchange for another member's pledge to vote for a candidate for judicial office or as an inducement for a candidate to withdraw.

    (E) Violations of this section may must be considered by the merit selection commission when it considers the candidate's qualifications and until the time set for election of candidates. Violations of this section by members of the General Assembly shall be reported by the commission to the House or Senate Ethics Committee, as may be applicable. Violations of this section by nonlegislative commission members shall be reported by the commission to the State Ethics Commission.  A violation of this section is a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, the violator must be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than ninety days.  Cases tried under this section may not be transferred from general sessions court pursuant to Section 22-3-545.

 

SECTION 8.  This act takes effect on February 1, 2027, at that time the previous commission members shall vacate their seats immediately to be replaced by those selected by the Governor in accordance with Section 2-19-5.

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