FIRST REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE JOINT
93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE VOGT.
Read 1st time March 31, 2005 and copies ordered printed.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
JOINT RESOLUTION
Submitting to the qualified voters of Missouri an amendment repealing section 15 of article V of the Constitution of Missouri, and adopting one new section in lieu thereof relating to the judicial department.
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring therein:
That at the next general election to be held in the state of Missouri, on Tuesday next following the first Monday in November, 2006, or at a special election to be called by the governor for that purpose, there is hereby submitted to the qualified voters of this state, for adoption or rejection, the following amendment to article V of the Constitution of the state of Missouri:
Section A. Section 15, article V, Constitution of Missouri, is repealed and one new section adopted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 15, to read as follows:
Section 15. 1. The state shall be divided into convenient circuits of contiguous counties. In each circuit there shall be at least one circuit judge. The circuits may be changed or abolished by law as public convenience and the administration of justice may require, but no judge shall be removed from office during his or her term by reason of alteration of the geographical boundaries of a circuit. Any circuit or associate circuit judge may temporarily sit in any other circuit at the request of a judge thereof. In circuits having more than one judge, the court may sit in general term or in divisions. The circuit judges of the circuit may make rules for the circuit not inconsistent with the rules of the supreme court.
2. Each circuit shall have such number of circuit judges as provided by law.
3. The circuit and associate circuit judges in each circuit shall select by secret ballot a circuit judge from their number to serve as presiding judge. The presiding judge shall have general administrative authority over the court and its divisions.
4. Personnel to aid in the business of the circuit court shall be selected as provided by law or in accordance with a governmental charter of a political subdivision of this state. Where there is a separate probate division of the circuit court, the judge of the probate division shall, until otherwise provided by law, appoint a clerk and other nonjudicial personnel for the probate division.
5. All workers' compensation administrative law judges as established in chapter 287, RSMo, who hold office on January 1, 2007, shall cease to hold that office and that office shall hereby be abolished. When such offices cease to exist:
(1) The jurisdiction of workers' compensation administrative law judges shall be transferred to the circuit court of the circuit within the geographic jurisdiction of the district where he or she serves on January 1, 2007, and such administrative law judges shall become divisions of the circuit court to be known as "The Workers' Compensation Court". Administrative law judges who hold office on January 1, 2007, shall thereafter become circuit court judges of the workers' compensation court. If the geographic jurisdiction of the district where the administrative law judge serves on January 1, 2007, is encompassed by more than one circuit court, the administrative law judge's office shall be transferred for administrative purposes to that circuit with the largest population;
(2) The provisions of law relating to practice and procedure under the workers' compensation act, crime victims' compensation act, and tort victims' compensation act shall, until otherwise changed by law, remain in effect and the provision of law relating to practice, procedure, venue, jurisdiction, change of judge, and all other provisions of law shall, until otherwise changed by law, remain in effect;
(3) All records, papers and files shall remain as currently maintained;
(4) Divisions of the circuit court created by this subsection may be changed hereafter by law;
(5) On and after January 1, 2007, the office expenses and salaries of the workers' compensation court judges shall continue to be paid from the sources and funds from which they were paid before such date. A pro-rata portion of assets of the administrative law judge retirement plan shall be transferred to the judicial retirement plan for the offices so transferred, and the workers' compensation court judges shall thereafter participate in the judicial plan with credit for service under the prior plan as if that service had accrued under the judicial plan;
(6) Until otherwise provided by law, circuit judges of the workers' compensation court shall hear all claims for workers' compensation, tort victims' compensation, and crime victims' compensation;
(7) Until otherwise provided by law or supreme court rule, the practice, procedure, filing fees, and administration of causes heard by circuit judges of the workers' compensation court within the jurisdiction of former workers' compensation administrative law judges shall be and remain the same as in the office abolished;
(8) On January 1, 2007, the circuit judges of the workers' compensation court shall have and be entitled to the same compensation as provided by law for circuit judges on such date and shall be entitled to the same compensation as provided by law for circuit judges thereafter and be entitled to all the same benefits and emoluments of the office of circuit court judge, and shall have the same powers as judges of the circuit court but limited to the class of cases as prescribed in the workers' compensation, tort victims' compensation, and crime victims' compensation acts, or as otherwise expanded but not contracted by law;
(9) Each judge who served as an administrative law judge and who is in office on January 1, 2007, shall continue to serve in the capacity of judge of the workers' compensation court of the circuit court until his or her successor is selected and qualified;
(10) Until January 1, 2007, administrative law judges shall continue to have the jurisdiction and power provided in the laws repealed;
(11) On January 1, 2007, the right to and method of review from a final judgment or appealable order of a circuit judge of the workers' compensation court, when so acting within the jurisdiction of cases heretofore within the jurisdiction of the administrative law judges hereby abolished, shall be to the court of appeals encompassing that circuit;
(12) The costs of proceedings as provided before January 1, 2007, shall remain in effect with respect to cases which would have been within the jurisdiction of the division of workers' compensation or labor and industrial relations commission until such costs are otherwise changed by law;
(13) Until January 1, 2007, administrative law judges shall continue to have the jurisdiction and power provided in the laws repealed hereby and provided by the laws and rules previously enacted and shall continue to follow the procedures as provided in such laws and rules;
(14) Each administrative law judge who, on January 1, 2007, becomes a circuit judge, shall become a nonpartisan judge under section 25 of this article. The retention vote prescribed in such section for workers' compensation court judges shall be of voters eligible to vote within the state;
(15) Circuit judges of the workers' compensation court, in addition to their regular duties, shall be subject to temporary assignment for the performance of judicial duties as special judges of the supreme court, court of appeals, or circuit court on order of the supreme court. During such temporary assignments, and sitting as special judges, circuit court judges of the workers' compensation court shall have the same powers, duties, and responsibilities as are vested by law in the regular judges of the courts to which they are assigned;
(16) Nothing in this section shall deprive any person of any right or privilege to retire and the retirement benefits to which he or she was entitled immediately prior to January 1, 2007;
(17) Until January 1, 2007, the labor and industrial relations commission shall continue to have jurisdiction to review administrative decisions, findings, rules, and orders in the manner and practice and pursuant to the laws and rules in force prior to January 1, 2007;
(18) All rights, claims, causes of action and obligations existing and all contracts, prosecutions, and other instruments executed or entered into and all pleadings, papers and complaints which shall have been filed and all actions which shall have been instituted and all fines, penalties and forfeitures assessed, due or owing prior to January 1, 2007, shall continue to be as valid as if this section had not been adopted;
(19) The general assembly may enact such laws and make such appropriations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this article;
(20) All laws and rules inconsistent with the provisions of this article shall, on January 1, 2007, be and are repealed. Except to the extent inconsistent with the provisions of this article, all provisions of law and rules of court in force on January 1, 2007, shall continue in effect until superseded in a manner authorized by the constitution or by law;
(21) Judges who on January 1, 2007, or within six months thereafter, are seventy years of age or older, may petition the commission on retirement, removal, and discipline to continue to serve until age seventy-six if he or she has not completed a total of twelve years of service as a judge; and
(22) Judges who are in office on January 1, 2007, may continue to serve despite the provisions of section 5 of this article until he or she has completed the total of years of service as a judge which combined with age which would have entitled the judge to a normal retirement benefit under the office abolished, whichever shall first occur, if the commission on retirement and removal of judges finds the judge mentally capable and willing to perform the judge's duties and approves such service. No such judge shall be permitted to serve as such a judge beyond the age of seventy-six years regardless of whether or not he or she has completed a total of twelve years except for the purpose of completing the term to which he or she was elected or appointed.