Waiver

A. WAIVER COMMITTEE. The Commission shall annually name a three-member waiver committee. The committee shall recommend action to the Commission on all written applications from judges for waivers of semi-annual training, and shall act on all applications for waivers of training for substitute judges. B. WAIVER OF SEMI-ANNUAL TRAINING. (1) To obtain a waiver of attendance at a training conference, the judge must make written application to the Commission, via the waiver committee, stating the reason why a waiver is requested. Except for requests for a waiver under B(2), the request for a waiver must be submitted to the Commission, via the waiver committee, at least forty (40) days prior to the scheduled date the training conference will begin. A notice of the waiver committee’s proposed recommendation to the Commission will be sent to the applicant five (5) days prior to the Commission’s action thereon. If the applicant objects to the proposed recommendation, the applicant may appear at the next regular Commission meeting and present his or her position to the Commission. The Commission shall consider the request 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 Commission 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 to the Commission, via the waiver committee, and shall constitute an application for a waiver. All training conference and emergency waiver requests shall be initially addressed by the waiver committee, which will make a recommendation to the full Commission. C. WAIVER OF TRAINING FOR SUBSTITUTE JUDGES. (1) When a substitute judge is named to act for an absent judge or perform daily operations on an occasional basis pursuant to MCA 3-10- 231(2) through (5), the substitute judge is required to obtain a waiver of training from the waiver committee. A substitute judge must be of good moral character and must have good community support, a sense of community standards, and a basic knowledge of court procedure. (2) The elected or appointed judge must complete and submit the request for waiver of training for the substitute judge. The prescribed forms may be obtained by writing to the commission. (3) The waiver committee shall review each request for waiver of training and shall advise the judge of its decision. No more than five substitute judges in one jurisdiction may receive a waiver of training in 1 year. (4) If the waiver committee does not approve the application for waiver of training for the substitute judge, the judge making the application may file a written request with the commission requesting a review of the matter by the commission. Upon receipt of the judge’s written request for review, the commission shall consider the matter at the next regular meeting and advise the judge of its decision. The judge making the request is encouraged to appear at the commission meeting where the matter is being considered.