1 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA AF 12

- 0374

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IN THE MATTER OF MODIFYING THE RULES FOR COURTS OF LIMITED JURISDICTION TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION OF JUDGES O R D E R

_________________ Through its Chairman, Judge Perry Miller, the Commission on Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (Commission) has asked this Court to make certain modifications to Rule 5 of the Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Train ing and Certification of Judges. The purpose of the modifications, which relat e to emergency waivers from training conferences, is to reflect current practice and to provide clarity to judges, Commission me mbers, and staff. Good cause having been shown, IT IS ORDERED that Rule 5 of the Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Training and Certification of Judges is modified as follows, to address the need for emergency waivers from training conferences. Lang uag e hereby added to the Rule is shownhighlighted : **Rule 5. Waiver**  A. WAIVER COMMITTEE . The Commission shall annually name a three

- me mber waiver committee. The committee shall recommend action to the commission on all writtena pplications from judges for waivers of semi

- annual training, and shall act on all applications for waivers of training for substitute judges. B. W AIVER OF SEMI

- ANNUAL TRAINING. June 26 20122 (1) To obtain a waiver of attendance at a training conference, the judge must make written application to the C ommission , via the waiver committee, stating the reason why the waiver is requested. E xcept for requests for aw aiver under B(2), the request for a waiver must be submitted t o the C ommission , v ia the waiv

er committee, at least forty (40) days prior to the scheduled date the training conference will begin. A notice of the waiver committee’s proposed recommendationto the C ommission will be sent to the applicant five (5) days prior to the C ommission’s action thereon. If the applicant objects to the proposed recommendation, the applicant may appear at the next regular C ommission meeting and present his or her position to the commission. The C ommission shall consider therequest for waiver and shall advise the judge in writing of

its determination at least ten (10) days prior to the scheduled date the training conference will begin. (2) The C ommission may grant a waiver of semi

- annual training because of illness, death in the family, or other good cause. Only one semi

annual training session may be waived by virtue of attendance at an out

-of

state training program. ( 3) Any request for permission to leave a semi

- annual training conference prior to its completion shall be presented in writing t o the Commission , via the waiver c ommittee, and shall constitute an application for a waiver. All training conference and emergency waiver requests shall be initially addressedb y the waiver c ommittee, which will ma ke a recommendation to thef ull Commission. Emergencies shall be addressed to the commission at the training conference for approval. [No changes to subsection (C)] The Clerk is directed to provide copies of this order to the Chair of the Commission on Courts of Limited Jurisdiction, Thomson Reuters, Todd Ev erts at Monta na Legislative Services Division, and Shauna Ryan, Judicial Education Coordinator, Montana Supreme Court

. DATED this 26 thday of June , 20 1 2
. **/** S/ MIKE McGRATH /S/ JAMES C. NELSON /S/ JIM RICE /S/ PATRICIA COTTER /S/ BETH BAKER /S/ BRIAN MORRIS