Legislation that would have proposed amending the state Constitution to eliminate most elections of Supreme Court (and Court of Appeal) justices and that had been approved by an Assembly committee before being derailed in 2025 won’t be re-introduced this year, the bill’s author said. After the Committee on Elections advanced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8, the bill was gutted-and-amended, replaced by a key component of the high-profile, and time-sensitive, California redistricting plan that became Proposition 50 (see: Supreme Court greenlights redistricting election).
The original ACA 8 would have asked voter approval for a constitutional change to authorize the Legislature to “provide by statute that the name of a judge of the Supreme Court or a court of appeal who files a declaration of candidacy shall not appear on the ballot, and instead the judge shall be deemed elected, unless a petition requesting that the judge’s name appear on the ballot is filed by a requisite number of registered voters qualified to vote for the office.”
ACA 8 was introduced by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, who served as the chief elections official in Santa Cruz County for over 25 years. In a statement provided to At The Lectern, she said, “As I finalize my legislative package for the year, and after much research and discussion with elections advocates, I have decided not to reintroduce a constitutional amendment related to judicial retention elections this year. I remain committed to continuing to explore ways to streamline California’s lengthy ballots while ensuring meaningful opportunities for judicial accountability by the electorate. Any future consideration of this proposal will include ample opportunity for public input and feedback.”
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