On Jan. 13, the judiciary committee of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted 13-12 to send to the House floor H.B. 38, a bill that proposes a constitutional amendment to replace statewide elections of appellate court judges with a system of electing appellate judges by geographic districts.

In Pennsylvania, constitutional amendments must be approved by both the House and the Senate in two consecutive terms before they can be presented to the voters as a referendum. As an identical bill, H.B. 196, already passed both houses, the proposed constitutional amendment could be put to the voters in a referendum at the May primary.