Nevada judicial discipline commission wants judges to get their day in court

Assembly Bill 28 would provide a process for disciplining “limited jurisdiction judges” — justices of the peace and municipal judges — who do not complete required training programs.

Current law requires judges to forfeit their office if training is incomplete, but the state commission that disciplines judges has concerns.

“The commission was a little uncomfortable with that because there was no due process,” said Paul Deyhle, executive director of the Commission on Judicial Discipline.

The bill puts additional steps in place for judges, including a seven-day notice from the commission, a chance to respond and a public hearing.

The bill was heard Thursday in a joint meeting of the Assembly Committee on Corrections, Parole and Probation and Assembly Judiciary Committee.

“This doesn’t occur often,” Deyhle said. “This decision to set forth this bill was because we were getting notified by other judges that their colleagues were not attending these classes.”

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or (775) 461-0661. Follow @BenBotkin1 on Twitter.