Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 100 Part 4.djvu/492

 100 STAT. 3228

PUBLIC LAW 99-573—OCT. 28, 1986

Public Law 99-573 99th Congress An Act Oct. 28, 1986 [H.R. 3578]

District of Columbia Judicial Efficiency and Improvement Act of 1986.

To provide permanent authority for hearing commissioners in the District of Columbia courts, to modify certain procedures of the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission and the District of Columbia Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the "District of Columbia Judicial Efficiency and Improvement Act of 1986". SEC. 2. HEARING COMMISSIONERS.

(a) Section 1732 of title 11 of the District of Columbia Code is amended to read as follows: "§ 11-1732. Hearing commissioners. "(a) With the approval of a majority of the judges of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in active service and subject to standards and procedures established by the rules of the Superior Court, the chief judge of the Superior Court may appoint Hearing Commissioners, who shall serve in the Superior Court and perform the duties enumerated in subsection (j) of this section and such other functions incidental to these duties as are consistent with the rules of the Superior Court and the Constitution and laws of the United States and of the District of Columbia. "(b) Hearing commissioners shall be selected pursuant to standards and procedures adopted by the Board of Judges. Such procedures shall contain provisions for public notice of all vacancies in hearing commissioner positions and for the establishment by the Court of an advisory merit selection panel, composed of lawyer and nonlawyer residents of the District of Columbia who are not employees of the District of Columbia Courts, to assist the Board of Judges in identifying and recommending persons who are best qualified to fill such positions. "(c) No individual shall be appointed as a hearing commissioner unless that individual— "(1) is a citizen of the United States; "(2) is an active member of the unified District of Columbia Bar and has been engsiged in the active practice of law in the District for the five years immediately preceding the appointment or for such five years has been on the faculty of a law school in the District, or has been employed as a lawyer by the United States or District government; and "(3) is a bona fide resident of the District of C!olumbia and has maintained an actual place of abode in the District for at least ninety days immediately prior to appointment, and retains such residency during service as a hearing commissioner, except that Hearing Commissioners appointed prior to the effective date of

�