Section 1.

Section VII of Article VI of the Constitution is amended by revising Paragraph VI as follows:

"Paragraph VI. Judicial Qualifications Commission; power; composition. (a) The General Assembly shall by general law create and provide for the composition, manner of appointment, and governance of a Judicial Qualifications Commission, with such commission having the power to discipline, remove, and cause involuntary retirement of judges as provided by this Article. Appointments to the Judicial Qualifications Commission shall be subject to confirmation by the Senate as provided for by general law."

(b) The procedures of the Judicial Qualifications Commission shall comport with due process. Such procedures and advisory opinions issued by the Judicial Qualifications Commission shall be subject to review by the Supreme Court.

(c) The Judicial Qualifications Commission which existed on June 30, 2017, is hereby abolished."

SECTION 2.

Article VI, Section VII, Paragraph VII of the Constitution is amended by revising subparagraph (4) of subparagraph (b) as follows:

"(4)(A) The findings and records of the commission and the fact that the public official has or has not been suspended shall not be admissible in evidence in any court for any purpose.
(B) The findings and records of the commission shall not be open to the public except as provided by the General Assembly by general law."

SECTION 3.

The above proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be published and submitted as provided in Article X, Section I, Paragraph II of the Constitution. The ballot submitting the above proposed amendment shall have written or printed thereon the following:

"Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to abolish the existing Judicial Qualifications Commission; require the General Assembly to create and provide by general law for the composition, manner of appointment, and governance of a new Judicial Qualifications Commission, with such commission having the power to discipline, remove, and cause involuntary retirement of judges; require the Judicial Qualifications Commission to have procedures that provide for due process of law and review by the Supreme Court of its advisory opinions; and allow the Judicial Qualifications
Commission to be open to the public in some manner?"

YES () NO ()

All persons desiring to vote in favor of ratifying the proposed amendment shall vote "Yes." All persons desiring to vote against ratifying the proposed amendment shall vote "No." If such amendment shall be ratified as provided in said Paragraph of the Constitution, it shall become a part of the Constitution of this state.

*Text stricken from the original bill is not included in this version.