SB1738

Returning to office: the retiree must have been separated from judicial service for at least six full consecutive months before taking the oath, resume full-time service rather than temporary assignment, and elect to rejoin the system. Notice of that election must reach the system within 60 days after the oath, in the prescribed form and manner. The returning member contributes 9.5% of state compensation. The unchanged rules exclude cash-balance annuity recipients from this election and allow an election only once. Separate existing rules require written notice before taking the oath and suspend pension payments during the return to office; the new 60-day election deadline does not remove that earlier notice requirement. Final law, sections 1–2; Existing eligibility limits; Existing notice and suspension rules.

What happens on retiring again: after at least 24 months of resumed judicial service, the system recalculates the originally selected pension using the highest annual state salary the person actually earned in an eligible judicial office and the additional service credit established during the return. With less than 24 months, the old pension resumes and contributions made during the resumed service are refunded. For the optional pensions with 60- or 120-month minimum payment periods, months already paid before the return count against that guarantee; returning does not restart it. Final law, section 2; Optional pension forms.

Buying earlier returned-service credit: the transition provision covers a former retiree who already held judicial office and had resumed system membership on September 1, 2025. That person may buy credit for resumed judicial service performed before that date, including before June 18, 2023. Each month costs 9.5% of the person’s monthly judicial state salary on September 1, 2025. Both purchase and deposits must be completed by September 1, 2027. This is not permission for every future returning judge to buy any service through 2027. The new 60-day notice rule applies to elections made on or after September 1, 2025. Final law, section 6.

Other contribution changes: members who choose to continue contributions after 20 years of service credit, or under the separate rule for members with at least 12 appellate-court years whose age plus credited service reaches 70, now contribute 9.5% rather than 6% of state compensation. Those remain elections under the existing eligibility rules, not a new compulsory contribution for every judge meeting an age-and-service total. Final law, sections 3–4; 20-year election; Appellate-service election.

The act repealed the provision that conditioned implementation of the return-to-membership option on the system’s financial soundness and could have caused that option to expire on September 1, 2025. The repeal took effect May 15, 2025, before that deadline. Another 2025 law, SB293, repeats the same operative return-to-service wording, contribution-rate changes and service-purchase transition; these are overlapping enactments, not two separate pension increases. Final law, sections 5–8; Prior funding and expiration condition; SB293 final law, sections 22–26, 35 and 37.

How the proposal changed: the Senate committee substitute extended the introduced 30-day election deadline to 60 days, specified the 9.5% contribution rate, and based recalculation on salary actually earned in an eligible office rather than a court classification’s salary. It added the two optional contribution-rate increases and narrowed the transition to former retirees who had already resumed membership. It replaced a proposed rulemaking approach with the express service-purchase provision and split the effective dates. The Senate-passed, House committee and final versions retained that substance. The official amendment index lists no floor amendments. Introduced text; Senate substitute; Senate-passed text; House committee text; Version index; Amendment index; Final law.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Eligible returning judges could receive credit and a recalculated pension after meeting the contribution and service requirements, but the act does not promise a particular dollar increase. They must pay contributions while serving; eligible purchasers must fund the earlier service credit themselves. Members making the two optional contribution elections pay 3.5 percentage points more of state compensation than under the former 6% rate. The system must administer elections, contributions, purchases, recalculations and refunds. Final law.

The March 18 introduced and March 22 substitute fiscal notes anticipate no significant state fiscal impact and no local-government fiscal impact; they do not quantify an individual pension change or promise zero administrative cost. The accompanying actuarial statements expect no material impact on the system, describing eligible service purchases as largely known and very limited. Their broad description of service before 2027 should not replace the final act’s narrower eligibility and pre-September-2025 service limit. This act makes no appropriation. Introduced fiscal note; Substitute fiscal note; Introduced actuarial statement; Substitute actuarial statement; Final law.