8208.E AMH JUDI HUTC 46

ESJR 8208 - H COMM AMD NOT ADOPTED 4/9/01

By Committee on Judiciary

Beginning on page 1, line 3, strike all material to the end and insert:

"THAT, At the next general election to be held in this state the secretary of state shall submit to the qualified voters of the state for their approval and ratification, or rejection, an amendment to Article IV, section 7 of the Constitution of the state of Washington to read as follows:

Article IV, section 7. The judge of any superior court may hold a superior court in any county at the request of the judge of the superior court thereof, and upon the request of the governor it shall be his or her duty to do so. A case in the superior court may be tried by a judge((,)) pro tempore((~~, who must be~~)) with the written agreement of the parties or their attorneys of record if the judge pro tempore is a member of the bar, approved by the court, and sworn to try the case, or without the agreement of the parties if the judge pro tempore is a sitting elected judge and is acting as a judge pro tempore pursuant to supreme court rule. The supreme court rule must require assignments of judges pro tempore based on the judge's experience and must provide for the right, exercisable once during a case, to a change of judge pro tempore ((~~agreed upon in writing by the parties litigant, or their attorneys of record, approved by the court and sworn to try the case~~)). However, if a previously elected judge of the superior court retires leaving a pending case in which the judge has made discretionary rulings, the judge is entitled to hear the pending case as a judge pro tempore without any written agreement.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the secretary of state shall cause notice of this constitutional amendment to be published at least four times during the four weeks next preceding the election in every legal newspaper in the state."