BATON ROUGE - A bill passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning that would give lawmakers the ability to remove judges from office.

The proposed bill, SB123, would require changes to the state constitution, meaning voters would have to approve a constitutional amendment.

Currently, judicial oversight is handled by the state Judiciary Committee; the commission may recommend that the Louisiana Supreme Court remove a judge from office for misconduct.

SB123 would change the removal process to start with a simple majority vote in the House, recommending the removal, and then a trial in the Senate. Following that trial, a two-thirds vote in the Senate would remove that judge.