Over the last several years Washington State has seen several efforts to raise or eliminate the mandatory retirement ages for the state’s judiciary. Of the state’s five types of court, only the mandatory retirement age of the state’s Supreme Court and Superior Court are constitutionally established and would thus require an amendment to Art. IV, Sec. 3(a) to alter. That constitutional provision, added in the 1950s, requires Supreme and Superior Court judges retire at the end of the calendar year in which they reach 75 OR any earlier age set by the legislature.

Of the state’s remaining courts, the Court of Appeals and District Court have statutorily set mandatory retirement ages. For example RCW 3.74.030 sets the mandatory retirement for District Court judge. Interestingly, there does not appear to be a mandatory retirement age for municipal court judges.

Previous efforts (HB 1522 of 2007, HB 2489 of 2009, HB 1201 of 2011, and SB 5147 of 2011) had packaged the increase for the retirement ages for District Court judges with those for the Supreme and Superior Courts and were therefore contingent of passage of a constitutional amendment.

Enter SB 6025 of 2012. This bill, prefiled last week, affects only District Court judges and RCW 3.74.030, specifying that District Judges could serve until the end of the term in which they turn 75. It is expected to go to the Senate Judiciary Committee when the Washington legislature comes back into session January 9.

• Previous Entry: State-by-State 2011 Legislative Year in Review: New Jersey
• Next Entry: Jury nullification bills: active in 2011, moving in 2012?