The Ohio Supreme Court announced today the adoption of several changes to the Code of Judicial Conduct, including an increase in judicial campaign contribution limits that take effect January 1, 2013.

Changes to Jud.Cond.R. 4.4(J) and (K) enact the 5.3 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for campaign contribution limits that occurred over the four-year period since the Supreme Court was last required by the rules to compute the percentage change. See this chart to view the new limits (in green) for individuals, organizations, and political parties according to the primary and general elections and judges’ jurisdictional levels.

Other Code of Judicial Conduct rule changes include:

• Changes to Jud.Cond.R. 4.3(C) that will prohibit a judicial candidate from “the placement of a title of office immediately before or after the name of the judicial candidate if the office is not currently held by the candidate.”
• Adds division Jud.Cond.R. 4.3(E) that will require a judicial candidate who uses the term “former” or “retired” before the title of judge to use the terms each time and to display the terms in prominent lettering.
• Changes to Jud.Cond.R. 4.4(A) that will permit a judicial candidate to make a general solicitation of campaign contributions via electronic communications in a text format.
• Eliminates the prohibition in Jud. Cond.R. 4.4(E) against a judicial candidate participating or receiving campaign contributions from a tiered judicial fundraising event.
• Changes to Jud.Cond.R. 4.6(N) that defines “prominent lettering” of the words “elect,” "vote,” and “for” in a judicial candidate’s campaign literature as not less than the size of the largest type used to display the title of office or the court to which the judicial candidate seeks election.
• Adds to Jud.Cond.R. 4.6(D) the definition of “domestic partner” already applicable to Canons 1 through 3 of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

To access the complete text of the amendments, click here.

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