BATON ROUGE — Louisiana voters on Dec. 7 will consider expanding the state panel that investigates judicial misconduct and give Supreme Court justices the ability to forward complaints to the commission.

Proposed Amendment 1 would expand the Judiciary Commission from nine to 14 members. Critics of the current setup say the panel takes to long to handle complaints and that it has too many lawyers or judges among its members. Three members are judges and three are lawyers. The remainder are non-lawyers.

Opponents say that increasing the panel wouldn't improve transparency, and also says that giving the Supreme Court the ability to file complaints could raise due process concerns because the justices would later determine what discipline is warranted, if any.

The Judiciary Commission is currently handling cases involving two judges from East Baton Rouge Parish's 19th Judicial District. A hearing officer recently heard evidence against Judge Tiffany Foxworth-Roberts and how she advertised during her most recent election. The Supreme Court also has suspended Judge Eboni Johnson Rose amid an investigation that she mishandled cases.

Two other statewide officials concern legislative procedures. They would:

-require that lawmakers wait 48 hours before adopting a conference committee report or amendments involving spending state money (Amendment 2); and 
-let lawmakers extend regular sessions in two-day increments, up to six days, to pass a budget bill (Amendment 3).

A fourth amendment would eliminate mandatory tax sales for nonpayment of property taxes and require that lawmakers adopt a way forward. It would also limit the size of penalties and interest on delinquent property taxes and let property tax payments be postponed in certain situations.