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SENATE
BILL 6511
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Passed
Legislature - 2002 Regular Session
State of Washington
57th Legislature 2002 Regular Session
By
Read first time 01/18/2002.
Referred to Committee on Judiciary.
Authorizing
any sitting elected judge to be a judge pro tempore.
AN
ACT Relating to judges pro tempore; and amending RCW 2.08.180.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
2.08.180 and 1987 c 73 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
A
case in the superior court of any county may be tried by a judge pro tempore,
who must be either: (1) A member of the bar, agreed upon in writing by
the parties litigant, or their attorneys of record, approved by the court, and
sworn to try the case; ((and his)) or (2) pursuant to supreme court
rule, any sitting elected judge. Any action in the trial of such cause
shall have the same effect as if ((he were)) it was made by a
judge of such court. However, if a previously elected judge of the superior
court retires leaving a pending case in which the judge has made discretionary
rulings, the judge is entitled to hear the pending case as a judge pro tempore
without any written agreement.
A
judge pro tempore shall, before entering upon his or her duties in any
cause, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation:
"I
do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be,) that I will support the
Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of
Washington, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of
judge pro tempore in the cause wherein . . . . . . is
plaintiff and . . . . . . defendant, according to the
best of my ability."
A judge pro tempore who is a practicing attorney and who is not a
retired justice of the supreme court or judge of a superior court of the state
of Washington, or who is not an active judge of ((an inferior)) a
court of the state of Washington, shall receive a compensation of one-two
hundred ((and)) fiftieth of the annual salary of a superior court judge
for each day engaged in said trial, to be paid in the same manner as the salary
of the superior judge. A judge who is an active judge of ((an inferior))
a court of the state of Washington shall receive no compensation as
judge pro tempore. A justice or judge who has retired from the supreme court,
court of appeals, or superior court of the state of Washington shall receive
compensation as judge pro tempore in the amount of sixty percent of the amount
payable to a judge pro tempore under this section.
