South Carolina General Assembly
116th Session, 2005-2006

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H. 5179

STATUS INFORMATION

Concurrent Resolution
Sponsors: Reps. Delleney, W.D. Smith and F.N. Smith
Document Path: l:\council\bills\gjk\21245sd06.doc
Companion/Similar bill(s): 1426

Introduced in the House on May 17, 2006
Introduced in the Senate on May 18, 2006
Adopted by the General Assembly on May 18, 2006

Summary: Judicial Merit Selection Commission

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
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   5/17/2006  House   Introduced, adopted, sent to Senate HJ-106
   5/18/2006  Senate  Introduced, adopted, returned with concurrence SJ-31

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

5/17/2006

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

TO RECOGNIZE AND COMMEND THE NONLEGISLATIVE MEMBERS OF THE JUDICIAL MERIT SELECTION COMMISSION, THE COMMISSION STAFF, AND THE MEMBERS OF THE CITIZENS COMMITTEES ON JUDICIAL QUALIFICATIONS ON THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF HISTORIC LEGISLATION REFORMING THE JUDICIAL SELECTION PROCESS FOR THE EXEMPLARY SERVICE THEY PERFORM IN EVALUATING THE QUALIFICATIONS AND CHARACTER OF CANDIDATES FOR JUDICIAL OFFICE IN THE STATE.

Whereas, the Judicial Merit Selection Commission is charged by law with considering the qualifications of candidates for the state's judiciary. The commission operates under a law, passed in 1996 and which went into effect July 1, 1997, which dramatically changed the process of evaluating candidates; and

Whereas, the Judicial Merit Selection Commission is composed of ten members, four of whom are nonlegislators. Its current membership is Representative F. Greg Delleney, Jr., Chairman; Senator James H. Ritchie, Jr., Vice Chairman; Senator Ray Cleary; Senator Robert Ford; Representative Doug Smith; Representative Fletcher N. Smith, Jr.; Judge Curtis G. Shaw; Amy Johnson McLester; Richard S. "Nick" Fisher; and John P. Freeman; and

Whereas, the commission believes that all South Carolinians should have a voice in the selection of the state's judges. This desire for broad-based grassroots participation led the commission to create five regional Citizens Committees on Judicial Qualifications; and

Whereas, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of judicial reform, it bears emphasizing that the commission and its citizens committees have screened over four hundred sixty-four candidates. The process has been hailed by experts and the media as being very successful; and

Whereas, this selection process maintains two key characteristics: a strong merit selection component while retaining the ability of the people's directly elected representatives to elect judges; and

Whereas, the system succeeds because of the dedication and tireless service of three groups: (1) the members of the commission; (2) the staff of the commission: Jane O. Shuler, Chief Counsel; S. Phillip Lenski and J. J. Gentry, Senate Counsel; Mikell C. Harper, Tracey C. Green, and Bradley S. Wright, House of Representatives Counsel; Patricia Miller, Administrative Assistant; and (3) the members of the citizens committees; and

Whereas, the members of the Lowcountry Citizens Committee are Robert M. "Mike" Hammond, DeAnna S. Trout, Elaine Murray, Frederick W. Riesen, Jr., Kenneth Riley, Freemon Thomas, Barbara Catenaci, Marlene O'Bryant-Seabrook, R. Bruce Wallace, and Angela Mulholland; and

Whereas, the members of the Midlands Citizens Committee are John M. Grantland, Robert M. Bell, Lauren Sutton, Tammy L. Thomas, Johnnie McFadden, Kay Mixon, Janice Cockrell Burt, and Nancy M. Moody; and

Whereas, serving as the Pee Dee Citizens Committee are J. Richard "Rick" Jones, Diane Rabon Bagnal, Robert Fleming, Janet R. Lynam, Flora Hopkins, Paige B. Sawyer, James Blassingame, and Kernard Edward Redmond; and

Whereas, the Piedmont Citizens Committee is made up of Charles A. Montgomery, Cherie Mabrey, Leonard Price, Gina K. Bass, Jurell Byrd, Jr., Wirt H. Jennings, Jr., and Patricia Biggerstaff Carley; and

Whereas, the membership of the Upstate Citizens Committee is John W. Tucker, Jr., Dorothy Laney, Charlotte M. Lynch, C. Ross Turner III, Kenneth E. Beasley, Nancy Jo Thomason, Diane Daane, Angela P. Stroble, and S. Mitchell Slade, Jr.; and

Whereas, it is appropriate for the members of the General Assembly to express their deepest gratitude to the nonlegislators who serve on the commission and the commission staff who have contributed to the great success of the judicial merit selection process and, in particular, to recognize the dedicated and selfless volunteer public service work of the members of the citizens committees. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the members of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, by this resolution, recognize and commend the nonlegislative members of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, the commission staff, and the members of the Citizens Committees on Judicial Qualifications on the tenth anniversary of historic legislation reforming the judicial selection process for the exemplary service they perform in evaluating the qualifications and character of candidates for judicial office in the State.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to each member of the five regional Citizens Committees on Judicial Qualifications and to each member of the commission staff.

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