Deal signs bill remaking, expanding judicial watchdog

ATLANTA — Georgia’s governor on Monday signed a bill that reconfigures and expands the state’s judicial watchdog agency.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission was created by a constitutional amendment in 1972 as an independent agency to investigate ethics complaints against judges and recommend disciplinary action if needed. But Georgia voters in November voted overwhelmingly to approve a constitutional amendment that abolished the agency and instructed state lawmakers to recreate it.

In addition to expanding the number of commission members from seven to 10, the legislation sponsored by Rep. Wendell Willard, a Republican from Sandy Springs, also creates separate investigative and hearing panels. It gives legislative leaders power they didn’t previously have to appoint members of the commission and strips appointments from the Georgia State Bar.

Under the new law, the seven-member investigative panel is responsible for investigating and prosecuting ethics investigations against judges, while the three-member hearing panel is tasked with adjudicating formal charges filed by the investigative panel and making recommendations to the Supreme Court of Georgia on disciplinary and incapacity orders.

The members of the two panels are not allowed to speak to each other about any disciplinary or incapacity matter.

The investigative panel will be made up of: one attorney appointed by the governor; two judges appointed by the state Supreme Court; two appointees, one attorney and one non-attorney, apiece from the House speaker and the president of the Senate, who is also the lieutenant governor. The panel will elect its own chair and vice chair.

The hearing panel will include one non-lawyer appointed by the governor and one judge and one attorney appointed by the state Supreme Court. The judge will be the presiding officer.

All appointees are subject to approval by the state Senate. If the Senate isn’t in session when an appointment is made, the person will go ahead and serve on the commission without approval until the Senate meets again.

A panel member may be removed for cause by unanimous vote of the appointing authorities.

The notoriously secretive agency will continue to do much of its work away from the eyes of the public. Any information having to do with a disciplinary or incapacity matter involving a judge will remain confidential until formal charges are filed. However, if a judge and the investigative panel agree to the resolution of a disciplinary matter before formal charges are filed, a report of that resolution will be filed publicly with the state Supreme Court.

Once formal charges are filed, all pleadings, information and hearings will be accessible to the public in disciplinary cases, but records and hearings in an incapacity matter will remain confidential.

The commission’s administrative records and information will be subject to public disclosure.