The change in the filing date for candidates to most judicial positions from May to January prompted a proposed change in the fund raising rules. On Friday, the Nevada Supreme Court filed a petition for a rule change to prohibit judicial candidates from soliciting and receiving contributions unless they draw a challenger. The Court will set a hearing to obtain public comment about the suggested language of the rule change. AB 505 was not the only proposed change to the Nevada's judicial selection process considered by the legislature this session. SJR 2 proposes a change in the constitution to switch to a merit selection system. However, AB 505 has the advantage of offering some immediate alleviation of the campaign financing requests, whereas, the proposed constitutional amendment must not only survive this legislative session, but if approved, must passed in another session, and then be approved by voters, making reform in this decade an impossibility.
The change in the filing date, approved by the Nevada Legislature in AB 505, was signed into law by Governor Gibbons May 18. The filing period for all non-judicial elections remains unchanged. The filing deadlines for Municipal Court judges, who face voters in different years and on different election cycles than state and county judges, were not changed.
