MLM Counties News. Notices. Need-to-know Information.
The Missouri Secretary of State’s Office has published its official summary of proposed changes to the Nonpartisan Court Plan that will appear on the November ballot.
The summary will appear on the ballot and is intended to help voters understand what the proposal does.
The summary reads:
Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to change the current nonpartisan selection of supreme court and court of appeals judges to a process that gives the governor increased authority to:
• appoint a majority of the commission that selects these court nominees; and
• appoint all lawyers to the commission by removing the requirement that the governor’s appointees be nonlawyers?
A note adds that there are no estimated costs or savings expected if this proposal is approved by voters.
State lawmakers proposed the change during the legislative session that ended in May. Its authors, however, did not propose their own summary.
The proposal has several provisions not mentioned in the summary. For instance, the proposal also requires the commission to send the governor four nominees instead of three, and it gives a nonvoting seat to a former judge chosen by the Supreme Court.
The election is Nov. 6.
