SB 14-SELECTION AND REVIEW OF JUDGES  2:49:17 PM CHAIR REINBOLD announced consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 14, "An Act relating to the selection and retention of judicial officers for the court of appeals and the district court and of magistrates; relating to the duties of the judicial council; relating to the duties of the Commission on Judicial Conduct; and relating to retention or rejection of a judicial officer." 2:49:12 PM CHAIR REINBOLD opened public testimony on SB 14. 2:49:36 PM ELEANOR ANDREWS, representing self, Anchorage, Alaska, said she previously served for seven years on the Alaska Judicial Council. She offered her view that the judicial selection process is not broken. She emphasized that judges are not being charged with illegal activities, challenged for lack of legal rigor, or accused of crimes. She offered to provide written comments. 2:50:41 PM to SB 14, because it would politicize judicial appointments in Alaska. She emphasized the importance of selecting the most qualified candidates as determined by the Alaska Judicial Council rather than to allow the governor to appoint any lawyer who has practiced in Alaska for a few years. She questioned Governor Dunleavy's past attorney general choices and said the governor is not always a good judge of character or fitness for judicial appointments. Alaska's Constitution created a good merit-based system for selecting and retaining judges. This is why a separate mechanism ensures that judicial appointments are made based on merit rather than politics. 2:52:20 PM SERENE O'HARA-JOLLEY, representing self, Fairbanks, Alaska, spoke in opposition to SB 14. She said Alaska's judicial and retention system is not broken. She stated that a nonpartisan peer recommendation process provides an important separation of powers. She mentioned Senator Meyers' campaign promise not to get caught up in the power aspects of government. He also talked about the problems associated with expanding government. She opined that SB 14 is about expanding government into a process that is working and infringes on the separation of powers. Allowing the legislative branch to select judges would expand the government's reach and allow ideology into the selection process. 2:54:11 PM CHAIR REINBOLD cautioned testifiers to refrain from attacking individual legislators. 2:54:22 PM ROBIN SMITH, representing self, Anchorage, Alaska, spoke in opposition to SB 14 because it would interject politics into the process of selecting judges. The framers of Alaska's Constitution benefitted from reviewing other states' constitutions. The Alaska Constitution creates a process to select and retain impartial, high-quality judges to remove a judge through a vote. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the judicial selection process has become increasingly politicized. The judicial branch provides an important check on the other two branches of government. SB 14 would politicize the process. 2:56:37 PM MICHAEL GARVEY, Advocacy Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska (ACLU), Anchorage, Alaska, stated that the ACLU protects the civil rights and individual liberties enshrined in the US Constitution and the Alaska Constitution. The Alaska Constitution created a judicial system based on merit and independence. He said the Alaska Judicial Council is central to carrying out these values. MR.GARVEY expressed concern that SB 14 would increase the influence of politics on Alaska's courts and undermine the state's long-revered merit selection system. The bill would allow the governor to appoint judges who the Alaska Judicial Council does not nominate as the most qualified, require legislative confirmation of these appointees, force Alaska Judicial Council nominees to pass an ideological litmus test and put the Commission on Judicial Conduct in charge of providing recommendations for retention elections rather than the Alaska Judicial Council, which already considers the commission's work. It is clear that SB 14 would increase the influence of politics on the courts were it to pass so that judicial openings would be based on the confirmation process rather than who is most qualified. MR. GARVEY said the practical effect of SB 14 would be to weaken the performance of the state's judiciary while opening the system to the influence of the governor's office and the legislature. 2:58:55 PM LYNETTE PHAM, representing self, Anchorage, Alaska, spoke in opposition to SB 14. This bill would give the governor more power, she said. She stated that judges should be selected based on their legal qualifications, fairness, and experience. She urged members to vote no on SB 14. 2:59:54 PM BOB GROSECLOSE, Attorney, Fairbanks, Alaska, stated that he served on the Alaska Judicial Council (AJC) for a six-year term ending in 2006. He has also served a three-year term on the Commission on Judicial Conduct. He said this bill would politicize the judicial selection and retention system that has worked well. The framers of the Alaska Constitution developed a system to ensure an independent judiciary. The AJC screens applicants. He urged members to reject SB 14 because it does not further the design of the constitution and it would impede the state's ability to maintain and preserve an independent judiciary. 3:01:29 PM JAY SMITH, self, Eagle River, Alaska, testified on the coronavirus but gave no testimony on SB 14. 3:03:34 PM JIM MINNERY, Executive Director, Alaska Family Council, Anchorage, Alaska, urged members to support SB 14. He stated that the council believes that involving the executive and legislative branches in judicial selection would help promote a more accountable judiciary and enhance public confidence in Alaska's court system. The existing judicial selection process places too much authority in the Alaska Judicial Council, which is dominated by members of the Alaska Bar Association (ABA). The ABA is a professional guild with 2,300 active members representing less than one percent of the state's population, yet four of the seven council seats are held by its members. He said the consultants to the convention committee on the judiciary warned about this. He read an excerpt from Vic Fisher's book, Alaska's Constitutional Convention, as follows: These sections in particular, however, go a long way toward withdrawing the judicial branch from the control of the people of this state and placing it under that of the organized bar. No state constitution has ever gone this far in placing one of the three coordinate branches of the government beyond the reach of democratic controls. We feel that in its desire to preserve the integrity of the courts, the convention has gone farther than is necessary or safe in putting them in the hands of a private, professional group, however public spirited its members may be. MR. MINNERY said that SB 14 does not cure every shortcoming in the current judicial selection process but it is a significant step in the right direction. 3:06:36 PM CHAIR REINBOLD stated that public testimony would remain open. [SB 14 was held in committee.]