State Agencies Undergo Sunset Review Process – State Commission on Judicial Conduct
Over the past couple of months or so, I have been outlining Texas’ sunset review process. The agencies I have covered so far include the Texas Board and Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and several others. As a reminder, in order to identify and eliminate government waste, duplication and general inefficiencies in state agencies, the Texas Legislature established the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission in 1977. The sunset review process is designed to review each of these agencies every twelve years. This review is done by taking up a certain number of the state agencies each session when the Texas Legislature convenes.
In last week’s article we examined the Texas Board and Department of Criminal Justice which is tasked with the responsibility of managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities which have contracted with the State of Texas. In this week’s article we are going to look at the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct is an independent state agency which was formed in 1965 by an amendment to the Texas State Constitution. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct is tasked with investigating allegations of judicial misconduct or judicial disability and for disciplining judges. Currently the State Commission on Judicial Conduct is made up of thirteen commissioners of which each serves six-year terms. The members of the commission include:
- Six judges which are appointed by the Supreme Court of Texas, one is appointed from each of the following court levels: appellate, district, county court at law, constitutional county, justice of the peace, and municipal;
- Two attorneys are also appointed by the State Bar of Texas, they cannot be judges; and
- Five citizen members which are appointed by the Governor and the five citizens cannot be attorneys or judges.
The members of the commission are not paid for their service. All members appointed to the commission are from varying appellate districts of the state. However, the citizen members, the justice of the peace and the municipal court judge are selected at large. All members must be confirmed by the Senate.
It is important to note that the State Commission on Judicial Conduct only has jurisdiction, or authority, over the following types of Texas judges:
- municipal judges;
- magistrates;
- justices of the peace;
- constitutional county judges who perform judicial duties;
- county court at law judges;
- statutory probate judges;
- district judges;
- appellate judges;
- retired and former judges, sitting by assignment; and
- associate judges and masters.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct outlines their mission statement on their website as follows: “The mission of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct is to protect the public, promote public confidence in the integrity, independence, competence, and impartiality of the judiciary, and encourage judges to maintain high standards of conduct both on and off the bench.”
If you are interested in learning more about the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, you can go to their website at https://www.scjc.state.tx.us . Some of the other agencies we will review in the upcoming weeks include the Board of Pardons and Paroles, Texas Ethics Commission, Texas Facilities Commission and a number of other agencies currently going through the sunset process.
