ROCKINGHAM – As part of the ongoing mission of the Richmond Observer to provide expansive coverage of current events of interest, we offer the following insight from State Representative Ken Goodman regarding upcoming constitutional amendment considerations.
THE RALEIGH REPORT
Six Constitutional Amendments
The Governor cannot veto these bills.
· In the last 20 years, North Carolina has voted on 7 constitutional amendments.
· In November 2018, voters will vote on 6 constitutional amendments.
What are the six amendments about? Here is a brief explanation of the fourth of the six.
Legislative Selection of Judges to Fill Judicial Vacancies (amendment #4)
Voters elect judges. But what happens when a judge resigns, retires, or dies in office? Currently, the Governor appoints the replacement who serves until the next general election when the voters elect a replacement.
This amendment will change that process to give the General Assembly most of the power to fill vacant judgeships. The amendment gives the General Assembly authority to create a commission that will rate all interested judicial applicants as “qualified” or “not qualified.” All of the “qualified” names will go to legislators who will narrow the choices to two names and send those to the Governor to pick one of two. So the General Assembly gets the critical job of narrowing a large field to two candidates, while the Governor and the commission do relatively little.
With all of that said, what voters will see on their ballot is: “Constitutional amendment to implement a nonpartisan merit-based system that relies on professional qualifications instead of political influence when nominating Justices and judges to be selected to fill vacancies that occur between judicial elections.” You can read SB 814 here.
Please feel free to contact me when you have questions or concerns pertaining to Legislative matters.
Contact Information: Representative Ken Goodman
919-733-5823 (Office) 919-733-2599 (Fax)
ken.goodman@ncleg.net Room 542 – Legislative Office Building
300 N. Salisbury Street Raleigh, NC 27603
Editor’s note: The Richmond Observer strives to provide fair and objective coverage of any and all political issues, situations, and/or developments, regardless of party affiliation. As part of this commitment, the Observer is offering this press release for your review. It is also our policy to print news release material in its original format, as it was received, with minimal, if any, editorial adjustments.
