Local Rules Advisory Committee
(a) Advisory Committee; Appointment. The Chief Bankruptcy Judge will appoint members of a Local Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Advisory Committee (the “Committee”) to serve such terms as the Chief Judge designates, along with a Bankruptcy Judge to serve as Committee Chair.
(b) Responsibilities. The Committee shall make reports and recommendations to the Court on the following matters:
(1) consistency with the United States Constitution, Acts of Congress, FRBP, and General Orders of the Court; and
(2) proposed amendments to the Local Rules.
(c) Procedures.
(1) Submitting Proposals. Any person or organization may propose amendments to the Local Rules by submitting them online on the Court website at https://azb.uscourts.gov/lrc or sending them by email to local_rules@azb.uscourts.gov. Proposals submitted by August 31 will become effective on December 1 of the following year, if adopted.
(2) Initial Consideration. The Chair will convene the Committee’s first meeting each September. The Committee will review proposals for rejection, deferral, or recommendation to the Court for consideration. The Chair will assign drafting responsibility to a Committee member of those proposals being recommended to the Court. The Committee will forward the final proposed amendments to the Court by March 31. The Court will decide whether to approve the proposed amendments for circulation to the bar and the public by May 30.
(3) Public Comment. The Court will distribute approved proposed amendments to the State Bar of Arizona and post them on the Court’s website. The bar and the public may submit comments until July 30 either online on the Court website or to the Clerk, marked to the attention of the Committee. The Committee will forward the comments, an evaluation of the comments, and the final proposed amendments to the Court by September 7.
(4) Final Adoption. The Court will adopt, modify, or reject the final proposed amendments by October 31. Amendments are effective as to all cases filed on or after December 1 of the year in which the amendments are adopted and may apply to pending cases to the extent it is practical and fair.
(5) Altering Timing and Procedure. For cause, the Court may alter the timing or procedures in this Local Rule.
(d) Emergency Amendments. When the Court or the Committee determine there is an immediate need to implement an amendment, including a technical, clarifying, or conforming amendment, the Court may adopt it without prior comment by the bar or the public. Amendments adopted under this subsection will later be circulated to the bar and the public for comment and reevaluated by the Committee and the Court under the above deadlines.
Notes 2022: This new LR establishes an annual cycle for amendments, lends structure to the process, and helps ensure that the LR are current.
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