EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
Underlining indicates amendments to bill.
Strike out indicates matter stricken from the bill by amendment or deleted from the law by
amendment.
*sb0619*
SENATE BILL 619
D1 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 5lr2456
CF HB 788
By: Chair, Judicial Proceedings Committee (By Request – Maryland Judicial
Conference)
Introduced and read first time: January 25, 2025
Assigned to: Judicial Proceedings
Committee Report: Favorable
Senate action: Adopted
Read second time: February 21, 2025
CHAPTER ______
AN ACT concerning 1
Judiciary Department – Commission on Judicial Disabilities – Temporary 2
Appointment 3
FOR the purpose of allowing the chair of the Commission on Judicial Disabilities to appoint 4
a former member to temporarily fill a certain vacancy on the Commission; and 5
allowing the Governor, on certain request of the chair, to appoint a temporary 6
substitute member or extend the term of an existing member of the Commission. 7
BY proposing an amendment to the Maryland Constitution 8
Article IV – Judiciary Department 9
Section 4A and 4B 10
SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 11
(Three–fifths of all the members elected to each of the two Houses concurring), That it be 12
proposed that the Maryland Constitution read as follows: 13
Article IV – Judiciary Department 14
4A. 15
(a) There is a Commission on Judicial Disabilities composed of eleven persons 16
appointed by the Governor of Maryland, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. 17
(b) The members of the Commission shall be citizens and residents of this State. 18 2 SENATE BILL 619
(c) (1) Three members of the Commission shall be appointed from among the 1
judges of the State, with one member representing the appellate courts, one member 2
representing the Circuit Courts, and one member representing the District Court. 3
(2) Three members shall be appointed from among those persons who are 4
admitted to practice law in the State, who have been so engaged for at least seven years, 5
and who are not judges of any court. 6
(3) Five members shall represent the public, who may not be active or 7
retired judges, who are not admitted to practice law in this State, and who may not have a 8
financial relationship with or receive compensation from a judge or a person admitted to 9
practice law in this State. 10
(4) The composition of the Commission should reflect the race, gender, and 11
geographic diversity of the population of the State. 12
(d) [The] SUBJECT TO THE PROVIS IONS OF § 4B(A)(5) OF THIS ARTICLE , 13
THE term of office of each member is four years commencing on January 1 following the 14
expiration of the member’s predecessor’s term. A member may not serve more than two 15
four–year terms, or for more than a total of ten years if appointed to fill a vacancy. 16
(e) A member’s membership automatically terminates: 17
(1) When any member of the Commission appointed from among judges in 18
the State ceases to be a judge; 19
(2) When any member appointed from among those admitted to practice 20
law becomes a judge; 21
(3) When any member representing the public becomes a judge or is 22
admitted to the practice of law in this State or has a financial relationship with or receives 23
compensation from a judge or a person admitted to practice law in this State; or 24
(4) When any member ceases to be a resident of the State. 25
(f) Any vacancies on the Commission shall be filled for the unexpired term by the 26
Governor in the same manner as for making of appointments to the Commission and 27
subject to the same qualifications which were applicable to the person causing the vacancy. 28
(g) A member of the Commission may not receive any compensation for the 29
member’s services as such but shall be allowed any expenses necessarily incurred in the 30
performance of the member’s duties as such member. 31
4B. 32
(a) (1) The Commission on Judicial Disabilities has the power to: 33 SENATE BILL 619 3
(i) Investigate complaints against any justice or judge of the 1
Supreme Court of Maryland, any intermediate courts of appeal, the circuit courts, the 2
District Court of Maryland, or the orphans’ court; and 3
(ii) Conduct hearings concerning such complaints, administer oaths 4
and affirmations, issue process to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production 5
of evidence, and require persons to testify and produce evidence by granting them immunity 6
from prosecution or from penalty or forfeiture. 7
(2) The Commission has the power to issue a reprimand and the power to 8
recommend to the Supreme Court of Maryland the removal, censure, or other appropriate 9
disciplining of a justice or judge or, in an appropriate case, retirement. 10
(3) All proceedings, testimony, and evidence before the Commission shall 11
be confidential and privileged, except as provided by rule of the Supreme Court of 12
Maryland; the record and any proceeding filed with the Supreme Court of Maryland shall 13
lose its confidential character, except as ordered by the Supreme Court of Maryland. 14
(4) No justice or judge shall participate as a member of the Commission in 15
any proceedings involving that justice’s or judge’s own conduct, and the Governor shall 16
appoint another justice or judge as a substitute member of the Commission for those 17
proceedings. 18
(5) (I) IN THE EVENT OF A MEM BER’S RECUSAL OR 19
DISQUALIFICATION OR THE EXPIRATION OF A MEMBER’S TERM WITHOUT A 20
REPLACEMENT , THE COMMISSION CHAIR MAY : 21
1. RECALL A FORMER MEMBE R TO SERVE AS A 22
TEMPORARY SUBSTITUTE MEMBER; OR 23
2. REQUEST THAT THE GOVERNOR APPOINT A 24
TEMPORARY SUBSTITUTE MEMBER OR EXTEND A C URRENT MEMBER ’S TERM. 25
(II) ON REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION CHAIR MA DE UNDER 26
THIS PARAGRAPH , THE GOVERNOR MAY APPOINT A TEMPORARY SUBSTITU TE 27
MEMBER FOR A SPECIFI ED PERIOD OR EXTEND A CURRENT MEMBER ’S TERM UNTIL 28
A REPLACEMENT IS APP OINTED. 29
(III) ANY SUBSTITUTE MEMBER IS SUBJECT TO THE SA ME 30
QUALIFICATIONS THAT WERE APPL ICABLE TO THE MEMBER FOR WHOM THE 31
SUBSTITUTE IS TEMPOR ARILY APPOINTED . 32
4 SENATE BILL 619
(6) The Supreme Court of Maryland shall prescribe by rule the means to 1
implement and enforce the powers of the Commission and the practice and procedure before 2
the Commission. 3
(b) (1) Upon any recommendation of the Commission, the Supreme Court of 4
Maryland, after a hearing and upon a finding of misconduct while in office, or of persistent 5
failure to perform the duties of the office, or of conduct prejudicial to the proper 6
administration of justice, may remove the justice or judge from office or may censure or 7
otherwise discipline the justice or judge, or the Supreme Court of Maryland, after hearing 8
and upon a finding of disability which is or is likely to become permanent and which 9
seriously interferes with the performance of the justice’s or judge’s duties, may retire the 10
justice or judge from office. 11
(2) A justice or judge removed under this section, and the justice’s or 12
judge’s surviving spouse, shall have the rights and privileges accruing from the justice’s or 13
judge’s judicial service only to the extent prescribed by the order of removal. 14
(3) A justice or judge retired under this section shall have the rights and 15
privileges prescribed by law for other retired justices or judges. 16
(4) No justice of the Supreme Court of Maryland shall sit in judgment in 17
any hearing involving that justice’s own conduct. 18
(c) This section is alternative to, and cumulative with, the methods of retirement 19
and removal provided in Sections 3 and 4 of this Article, and in Section 26 of Article III of 20
this Constitution. 21
SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That the General Assembly 22
determines that the amendment to the Maryland Constitution proposed by Section 1 of this 23
Act affects multiple jurisdictions and that the provisions of Article XIV, § 1 of the Maryland 24
Constitution concerning local approval of constitutional amendments do not apply. 25
SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That the amendment to the 26
Maryland Constitution proposed by Section 1 of this Act shall be submitted to the qualified 27
voters of the State at the next general election to be held in November 2026 for adoption or 28
rejection in accordance with Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution. At that general 29
election, the vote on the proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be by ballot, and on 30
each ballot there shall be printed the words “For the Constitutional Amendment” and 31
“Against the Constitutional Amendment”, as now provided by law. Immediately after the 32
election, all returns shall be made to the Governor of the vote for and against the proposed 33
amendment, as directed by Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution, and further 34
proceedings had in accordance with Article XIV. 35