Supreme Court Rules

§ 1-103.  Rules consideration.

   (A) Requests to consider the creation, amendment, or repeal of any Supreme Court rule can be initiated by action of the Court or brought to any member of the Court, the Clerk of the Supreme Court, or the State Court Administrator by any interested party, unless an existing rule contains specific language providing for procedure for amendment. Such request shall be submitted in writing and on a disk in a Microsoft Word compatible format. Any language that creates a rule or is to be added to a rule shall be underscored, and any language to be deleted from a rule shall be overstruck.

   (B) The Supreme Court may:

   (1) accept the request,

   (2) deny the request, or

   (3) defer action pending:

   (a) additional comment from requestor,

   (b) comment from staff or committee, or

   (c) a formal written comment period.

   (C) In the case of deferral pending a formal written comment period, notification of the pending rules changes and solicitation of comment may be made in any publication(s) deemed advisable by the Supreme Court and notification of the pending rules requests and solicitations for comments may also be provided, as directed by the Court, to those identified as having a potential interest.

   Any formal written comment period shall be for the period of time specified by the Court in such notification.

   (D) At the completion of the comment period established above, the Court may accept, reject, or modify the rules request under discussion; the Court may request further written comment as provided in item III(C) of this rule; or the Court may on its own motion or on the request of an interested party hold a public hearing on the rules change sought.

   (E) If the Supreme Court determines to hold a public hearing on a proposed rules change, notification shall be given in the same manner as specified by item § 1-103(C) of this document. Such notification shall also contain the time and place scheduled for the hearing and the method by which the entire proposed rule change

   (F) Upon completion of the procedures set forth above, and prior to Supreme Court consideration for initial approval, such rule or amendment shall, unless otherwise directed by the Court, be reviewed by the Supreme Court Staff Attorney for any comments or recommendations to the Court. Upon report by the Staff Attorney and consideration of all other relevant materials, the Court shall approve or deny the requested rule or amendment.

   After Court approval of a change or amendment to the "Official Supreme Court Rules," the approved revision shall be forwarded to the Reporter of Decisions Office for editing. If expressly directed by the Court, the Reporter shall also edit any "Miscellaneous Supreme Court Rule" which has been approved for change or amendment. The Reporter shall thereafter return the edited version of the rule or amendment to the Court for final adoption.

Rule III(A), (B), and (C) amended October 14, 1999; Rule III (F) adopted October 14, 1999; Rule III(A) amended June 5, 2002.  Renumbered and codified as § 1-103, effective July 18, 2008.