Alaska 2025-2026 Regular Session

Alaska Senate Bill SB25 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2	SB0025A -1- SB 25
3	3	New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
4	4
5	5	34-LS0262\A
6	6
7	7
8	8
9	9
10	10
11	11	SENATE BILL NO. 25
12	12
13	13	IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
14	14
15	15	THIRTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE - FIRST SESSION
16	16
17	17	BY SENATOR MYERS
18	18
19	19	Introduced: 1/10/25
20	20	Referred: Prefiled
21	21
22	22
23	23	A BILL
24	24
25	25	FOR AN ACT ENTITLED
26	26
27	27	"An Act relating to information on judicial officers seeking retention in office." 1
28	28	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 2
29	29	* Section 1. AS 15.58.030(g) is amended to read: 3
30	30	(g) Not [NO] later than August 7 of a [THE] year in which the state general
31	31	4
32	32	election will be held, a person seeking retention in office as a justice or judge may file 5
33	33	with the lieutenant governor the following information, not to exceed 300 words: 6
34	34	(1) a photograph; 7
35	35	(2) information regarding the residency of the justice or judge; 8
36	36	(3) information regarding the military service of the justice or 9
37	37	judge; 10
38	38	(4) information regarding the professional activities of the justice 11
39	39	or judge, including public outreach and administrative activities; 12
40	40	(5) any additional information that the justice or judge would like 13
41	41	published to support the justice's or judge's [AND A STATEMENT 14
42	42	ADVOCATING THE] candidacy. 15 34-LS0262\A
43	43	SB 25 -2- SB0025A
44	44	New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
45	45
46	46	* Sec. 2. AS 15.58.050 is amended to read: 1
47	47	Sec. 15.58.050. Information and recommendations on judicial officers. Not 2
48	48	[NO] later than August 7 of a [THE] year in which the state general election will be 3
49	49	held, the judicial council shall file with the lieutenant governor a statement including 4
50	50	information about each supreme court justice, court of appeals judge, superior court 5
51	51	judge, and district court judge who will be subject to a retention election. The 6
52	52	statement must [SHALL] reflect the evaluation of each justice or judge conducted by 7
53	53	the judicial council according to law and, except for information required by law to 8
54	54	be kept confidential, must contain, in fewer than 1,200 words total, 9
55	55	(1) for a superior court judge or district court judge subject to 10
56	56	retention, 11
57	57	(A) a statement written by the judge, not to exceed 150 12
58	58	words, describing the professional philosophy of the judge; 13
59	59	(B) a description of the judicial, legal, or other education of 14
60	60	the judge; 15
61	61	(C) a description of the business experience of and 16
62	62	professional positions held by the judge in the preceding 10 years; 17
63	63	(D) a list of service organizations with which the judge is 18
64	64	affiliated; 19
65	65	(E) if applicable, ratings of the judge by law enforcement 20
66	66	officers, attorneys, court system employees, and jurors; 21
67	67	(F) the number of decisions by the judge that were 22
68	68	reviewed and disposed of by a written decision of an appellate court and 23
69	69	the percentage of issues in those decisions that were affirmed by the 24
70	70	appellate court; 25
71	71	(G) a description of any public disciplinary proceedings 26
72	72	against the judge; 27
73	73	(H) a self-assessment by the judge, not to exceed 250 words, 28
74	74	evaluating the judge's judicial performance; the self-assessment may 29
75	75	include comments on the judge's satisfaction with the judge's judicial role, 30
76	76	specific contributions to the judiciary or the field of law, growth in legal 31 34-LS0262\A
77	77	SB0025A -3- SB 25
78	78	New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
79	79
80	80	knowledge and judicial skills, or other measures of judicial abilities that 1
81	81	the judge believes to be important; 2
82	82	(2) for a supreme court justice or court of appeals judge subject to 3
83	83	retention, the information required under (1)(A) - (E), (G), and (H) of this 4
84	84	subsection; 5
85	85	(3) for a justice or judge standing retention for the first time, a 6
86	86	description of 7
87	87	(A) previous political and governmental positions held by 8
88	88	the justice or judge, including any political office held; 9
89	89	(B) the justice's or judge's primary practice areas before 10
90	90	appointment, including the approximate percentage of the justice's or 11
91	91	judge's pre-appointment career spent as a trial lawyer; 12
92	92	(C) the types of clients the justice or judge represented 13
93	93	before appointment [SHALL CONTAIN A BRIEF STATEMENT 14
94	94	DESCRIBING EACH PUBLIC REPRIMAND, PUBLIC CENSURE, OR 15
95	95	SUSPENSION RECEIVED BY THE JUDGE UNDER AS 22.30.011(d) 16
96	96	DURING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THE EVALUATION. A 17
97	97	STATEMENT MAY NOT EXCEED 600 WORDS]. 18