Statutes

20-3201.

Commission on judicial performance; duties of judicial council, commission on judicial qualifications and office of judicial administration; sunset. On and after July 1, 2006:

1. The commission on judicial performance is hereby established as an independent committee of the Kansas judicial council. The budget of the commission shall be a part of the budget of the judicial council. The judicial council shall provide administrative assistance to the commission. The commission on judicial qualifications and the office of judicial administration shall assist the commission, if requested by the commission.
2. The provisions of K.S.A. 20-3201 through 20-3207, and amendments thereto shall expire on June 30, 2010.

20-3202.

Same; membership; not subject to open meetings act; definitions.

1. The commission shall consist of thirteen members appointed by the judicial council. The council shall appoint commission members of outstanding competence and reputation. Six members of the commission shall be non-lawyers and six members of the commission shall be lawyers, justices or judges. The judicial council shall appoint the chair of the commission, who shall be a lawyer, justice or judge. At least one non-lawyer commission member and at least one lawyer, justice or judge commission member shall reside in each congressional district. The rules of the commission shall provide that the terms of the commission members are staggered.
2. For the purposes of K.S.A. 20-3201 through 20-3207, and amendments thereto, the commission shall not be subject to the Kansas open meetings act as provided in K.S.A. 75-4317 et seq., and amendments thereto.
3. As used in K.S.A. 20-3201 through 20-3207, and amendments thereto:
   1. "Lawyer" means an attorney registered as active pursuant to supreme court rule.
   2. "Judge" means a current or retired Kansas judge of the district court; a current or retired judge of the Kansas court of appeals; and a retirant serving as a judge under written agreement with the Kansas supreme court pursuant to K.S.A. 20-2622, and amendments thereto.
   3. "Justice" means a current or retired justice of the Kansas supreme court.

20-3203.

Same; goals of evaluation process. On and after July 1, 2006, the goals of the judicial performance evaluation process are:

1. To improve the judicial performance of individual judges and justices and thereby improve the judiciary as a whole;
2. where judges and justices are subject to retention elections, to disseminate the results from the judicial performance evaluation process to enable voters to make informed decisions about continuing judges and justices in office; and
3. to protect judicial independence while promoting public accountability of the judiciary.

20-3204.

Same; surveys; performance standards; plans and procedures; public recommendations; adoption of rules.

1. The commission shall, with the aid of professionals where appropriate:
1. Conduct surveys of such persons as the commission determines to be appropriate who have had sufficient experience with a judge or justice to form an opinion about the performance of the judge or justice, such as attorneys, litigants, jurors, witnesses, court staff and others. The surveys shall be dispersed, collected and tabulated by an independent organization or in any other manner that insures confidentiality. The surveys shall ask those surveyed to evaluate the judges and justices on such judge's or justice's ability, integrity, impartiality, communication skills, professionalism, temperament and administrative capacity suitable to the jurisdiction and level of court;
2. develop clear, measurable performance standards upon which the survey questions are based;
3. develop dissemination plans that:
   1. Protect confidentiality when the judicial performance evaluation is used only for self-improvement;
   2. make the judicial performance evaluation results widely available when they are to be used to assist voters in evaluating the performance of judges and justices subject to retention elections; and
   3. make public recommendations regarding whether or not to retain judges and justices subject to retention elections;
4. develop a procedure for judges and justices to receive and respond to survey results before such results are made public;
5. establish a mechanism to incorporate evaluation results in designing judicial education programs; and
6. adopt rules for implementation of the judicial performance evaluation process, subject to approval by the Kansas supreme court.
2. The supreme court, the Kansas judicial council, the commission on judicial performance, and the staff or any committee of the commission shall be immune from suit and liability in any civil action for any act, error or omission occurring within the scope of their official duties pursuant to article 32 of chapter 20 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, and amendments thereto.
3. Any agent under contract with the commission on judicial performance shall be indemnified and held harmless by the state in any cause of action arising out of such agent's use of information provided by the state within the scope of their contractual duties. Any such agent shall not be indemnified or held harmless by the state in any cause of action arising out of such agent's intentional or negligent acts.

20-3205.

Same;confidentiality of surveys and results; subject to rules.

1. The surveys of court users, survey results and judicial performance evaluation results are confidential and shall not be disclosed except as provided in subsection (d) or in accordance with the rules of the commission or the Kansas supreme court.
2. Any statute or rule that restricts public access to certain types of court records or certain types of information contained in court records shall not prohibit the commission or agents of the commission from having access to the names and addresses of appropriate persons named in such records and other information necessary for the discharge of the commission's duties pursuant to article 32 of chapter 20 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, and amendments thereto. No confidential information found in such court records shall be revealed to any other person by the commission or agents of the commission.
3. The evaluation of judges subject to political elections shall be used solely for self-improvement. A judge subject to political elections shall not reveal data from any portion of the survey or the results of the survey.
4. Judicial performance evaluation results of a retirant serving as a judge under written agreement with the Kansas supreme court pursuant to K.S.A. 20-2622, and amendments thereto, shall be public and shall be used by the Kansas supreme court for the determination of a continuing agreement pursuant to K.S.A. 20-2622, and amendments thereto.
   

20-3206.

Same; reduction or discontinuance of program. Upon certification by the commission to the judicial council that:

1. Funding is not adequate to support a judicial evaluation program of high quality;
2. the Kansas supreme court has failed to approve appropriate rules as set forth in this act; or
3. in the opinion of the commission the program is no longer of appropriate value, then the program may be reduced in scope or discontinued as determined by the judicial council.

20-3207.

Same; judicial performance fund. On and after July 1, 2006, there is hereby established in the state treasury the judicial performance fund. All moneys credited to the fund shall be used for the judicial performance evaluation process. All expenditures from the judicial performance fund shall be made in accordance with appropriation acts and upon warrants of the director of accounts and reports issued pursuant to expenditures approved by the chairperson of the Kansas judicial council or by the person or persons designated by the chairperson of the Kansas judicial council.