2018 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 13 - Courts and Court Procedure
Courts of Record
Article 5.5 - Commissions on Judicial Performance
§ 13-5.5-105. Powers and duties of the state and district commissions - rules

(1) In addition to any other powers conferred or duties assigned upon the separate commissions by this article 5.5, all commissions have the following powers and duties:

• (a) To review any available case management data and statistics provided by the state court administrator, the state commission, and district commissions related to individual justices and judges. A district commission may ask the state court administrator to provide supplemental information and assistance in assessing a judge's overall case management.

• (b) To review written judicial opinions and orders authorized by justices and judges under the commission's oversight;

• (c) To collect information from courtroom observation by commissioners of justices and judges, as well as information provided to the commissions by the volunteer courtroom observer program;

• (d) To interview justices and judges under the commission's oversight and to accept information and documentation from interested persons as necessary, including judicial performance surveys;

• (e) To make recommendations and prepare narratives that reflect the results of performance evaluations of justices and judges; and

• (f) At an individual commission's discretion after it completes an interim evaluation of a justice or judge pursuant to section 13-5.5-109, to recommend that the chief justice or appropriate chief judge develop an individual judicial improvement plan pursuant to section 13-5.5-110.

(2) In addition to other powers conferred and duties imposed upon the state commission by this article 5.5 and section 13-5.5-106, the state commission has the following powers and duties:

• (a) To appoint and supervise the executive director of the office on judicial performance evaluation;

• (b) To assist the executive director in managing the office and providing fiscal oversight of the office's operating budget;

• (c) To review data, prepare narratives, and make recommendations related to individual supreme court justices and judges of the court of appeals in accordance with sections 13-5.5-108 and 13-5.5-109;

• (d)

  • (I) To develop surveys for persons affected by justices and judges, including but not limited to attorneys; jurors; represented and unrepresented litigants; law enforcement personnel; attorneys within the district attorneys' and public defenders' offices; employees of the court; court interpreters; employees of probation offices; employees of local departments of social services; and victims of crimes, as defined in section 24-4.1-302 (5);

  • (II) To develop rules, guidelines, and procedures to make the results of surveys developed pursuant to this subsection (2)(d) readily available to all parties set forth in subsection (2)(d)(I) of this section;

  • (III) To develop rules, guidelines, and procedures to provide attorneys, pro se litigants, and clients with accessible and timely opportunities to review the surveys developed pursuant to this subsection (2)(d); and

  • (IV) To develop rules, guidelines, and procedures to make the surveys developed pursuant to this subsection (2)(d) and any available survey reports available to the public;

• (e) To determine the validity of completed surveys developed pursuant to this subsection (2), report to the district commissions on the validity of the surveys for their districts, and prepare alternatives to surveys where sample populations are inadequate to produce valid results;

• (f) To produce and distribute survey reports and public narratives that reflect the results of each judicial performance evaluation;

• (g) To develop rules, guidelines, and procedures for the review of the deliberation procedures established by the district commissions; except that the state commission does not have the power or duty to review actual determinations made by a district commission;

• (h) To promulgate rules pursuant to section 13-5.5-106 concerning:

  • (I) The evaluation of justices and judges based on performance evaluation criteria set forth in section 13-5.5-107;

  • (II) The creation of a standards matrix related to the performance evaluation criteria set forth in section 13-5.5-107 and a clear description of the thresholds for the recommendations of "meets performance standard" or "does not meet performance standard" and how that information will be made available to the public; and

  • (III) The continuous collection of data for use in the evaluation process, including surveys developed pursuant to subsection (2)(d) of this section;

• (i) To develop rules, guidelines, and procedures concerning a systemwide judicial training program and a systemwide volunteer courtroom observer program; and

• (j) To prepare a report pursuant to section 13-5.5-114.

(3) In addition to other powers conferred and duties imposed upon a district commission by this article 5.5, in conformity withthe rules, guidelines, and procedures adopted by the state commission pursuant to section 13-5.5-106 and the state commission's review of the deliberation procedures pursuant to subsection (2) of this section, each district commission has the following powers and duties:

• (a) To obtain information from parties and attorneys regarding judges' handling of cases with respect to the judges' fairness, patience with pro se parties, gender neutrality, racial disparity, and handling of emotional parties;

• (b) To review data, prepare narratives, and make evaluations related to judges pursuant to the provisions of sections 13-5.5-108 and 13-5.5-109; and

• (c) Upon completing the required recommendations and narratives pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, to collect all documents and other information, including all surveys and copies, received regarding each judge who was evaluated and forward such documents and information to the state commission within thirty days.

(4) Unless recused pursuant to a provision of this article 5.5, each commissioner of the state and district commissions has the discretion to evaluate the performance of a justice or judge under the commission's oversight and vote as to whether the justice or judge meets the performance standard based upon the commissioner's review of all of the information available to the commission.