• SB1159, which authorizes the County Manager to appoint members of the nominating committee for the Commission on Trial Court Appointments if the member of the Board of Supervisors from the district fails to do so within the constitutional timeframe was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 5.

• SB1186 and similar SCR1011 would amend the constitution to include reviews of Superior Court Commissioners in the Judicial Performance Review process.   The Commission discussed that reviews of commissioners are already being conducted at the county level.

• HCR2006 would modify the current merit selection population threshold from 250,000 to 600,000.
  
  Ms. Voss explained to the new members that the legislative report helps the Commission be more aware of legislative action that could affect JPR.

A bill that would create a system of judicial election by district was also noted.

Conference Teams:  Recruitment

Annette Corallo reminded the Commission that conference teams will be established in May.  She asked members to inform staff as soon as possible if they know of anyone who may be interested in serving on a conference team or would like to serve themselves.  She explained that Commission members may serve on teams but will not be assigned to meet with a judge on the retention ballot this year.  Ms. Corallo further noted that the greatest recruitment need is for Pima County public members. 

Dr. Brandfon shared a conversation she recently had with a Supreme Court justice who commented that he felt he was more critical of his performance than were his conference team members.  Dr. Brandfon explained that the justice suggested conference team members should be instructed at training not to be reluctant to approach a judge or justice about areas in need of improvement.

IV.        DISCUSSION ITEMS:

Proposed 2008 Data Report Format

Jim Riggs from the Data Center reviewed the 2008 data report format changes with the Commission.  As requested by the Commission at the November 9 meeting, he left the format intact but eliminated the 100% total columns in an attempt to make the print larger.  Further, Mr. Riggs explained that the "No Resp" column was removed from the percentage reports, the label for the total responses for each respondent group was changed from "Valid" to "Resp", and a footer that reads, "Percentages should add to 100% but may not due to rounding" was added to the percentage reports. 

Mr. Riggs then offered the Commission two options for category summary data.  Option #1 would make the category summaries the totals for each ranking and Option #2 would make the category summaries the averages of the item responses.

The Commission then discussed the report formats and whether or not previous reports should be reformatted to make comparisons easier.  Ms. Voss noted that no formal action was necessary, but asked Commission members to vote on each option.  The Commission voted to use Option #2 and to leave prior reports unchanged. 

Judge Gaines asked Mr. Riggs to clarify the results of the recent audit performed on the Data Center.  Mr. Riggs responded that the auditors found the accuracy of the data reported by the Data Center to be at 99.3%.  Judge Gaines then asked about the accuracy of the reproduction of anonymous narrative comments.  Mr. Riggs indicated that while he is most concerned with the accuracy of the data reports because of the potential severity of the consequences, he has installed three extra levels of audit to avoid mistakes in reporting the anonymous narrative comments.

           
Subcommittee Status Update

Ms. Voss noted that Claire Scheuren could not attend this meeting so there would be no report from the Survey Process Subcommittee.

Judge Borek reported that the work of the Survey Questions Subcommittee is completed for now.  The subcommittee will not consider recommending further changes to the survey questions until at least November when the current review cycle ends.

           
William Poorten reported that the Voter Education Subcommittee is still working on finalizing and implementing a 2008 voter education plan. Rohan Braithwaite volunteered to replace Ron Ober on the subcommittee.

Proposal:  Conference Teams

Dr. Sylvia Brandfon proposed that the Commission create a standing subcommittee to review the surveys returned after each cycle by conference team members.  She explained that the purpose of the subcommittee would be to review their feedback for the purpose of enhancing conference team training and addressing any issues team members may have encountered during the process.

Public Hearings:  Volunteers

Ms. Voss asked for volunteers to represent the Commission at public hearings to be held in Tucson on March 12 and in Phoenix on March 19.  The following members volunteered:  Judge Barker, Judge Borek, Dr. Brandfon, Dr. Cosgrove, Judge Eckerstrom, Barbara Glenn, Mike Hellon, Rebecca Montgomery, Rick Naimark, Patricia Nigro, Jeffrey Nordensson, Carl Piccarreta, Josephine Polk-Matthews, Bill Poorten, Shirley Sandelands, Judge Simmons and Roberta Voss.  Staff agreed to send a confirmation notice including times and locations for the volunteers.

It was suggested that notice of the hearings be sent to the editorial boards of the Tucson Citizen and the Arizona Daily Star.  Dr. Watson offered to contact producers at Arizona Illustrated to attempt to arrange a segment on that program about the hearings.

 2008 Voter Report Format

Annette Corallo asked if the Commission would like to make any changes to the voter report format for 2008.  The Commission confirmed they will refrain from making any changes at this time.

V.         CALL TO THE PUBLIC       

Ms. Voss noted that there was no public in attendance. 

VI.        NEXT MEETING DATE/MEETING LOCATION:

   
            Date:               May 9, 2008

            Time:               9:00 a.m. 

            Location:         Casa Grande, Arizona

                                    (Location TBD)

Ms. Voss reminded members that the May 9 meeting is mandatory.  Ms. Corallo added that members should receive notebooks and materials in April.

VII.      ADJOURNMENT:

At 10:55 a.m., it was moved, seconded and passed unanimously that the meeting be adjourned.