Febraury 16, 2024 -- Since 2006, Gavel to Gavel has tracked state-by-state legislative activity with potential impact on state courts.
New and active legislation includes:
- Security
- Florida legislative committees approve bills to protect personal identifying and location information of current or former clerks of the circuit court and their staff and appellate court clerks;
- Maryland Senate approves judge Andrew F. Wilkinson Judicial Security Act on a 43-1 vote;
- Wisconsin Assembly committee approves a package of bills that ban picketing or parading at the residence of a judge, establishes privacy protections for judicial officers, and exempts a judicial security profile form from disclosure under the public records law; and
- Wyoming Senate Judiciary committee approves bill expanding the existing crime of influencing, intimidating, or impeding jurors or witnesses to include judges.
- Judicial Selection
- Iowa bill would give the governor power to name all members of the state's judicial nominations commissions; and
- South Carolina bill would require attorney-legislators to recuse themselves from voting or participating in any manner in the legislative selection process of judges and justices.
- Retirement
- Hawaii House and Senate committees approve a constitutional amendment to increase the mandatory judicial retirement age from 70 to 75; and
- Wyoming committee approves plans to change the amount judges have to pay into judicial retirement fund.