| Passed by the House March 11, 2003 Yeas 92 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 16, 2003 Yeas 46 ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Cynthia Zehnder, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is HOUSE BILL 1954 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
| Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 58th Legislature | 2003 Regular Session |
Read first time 02/18/2003. Referred to Committee on Judiciary.
AN ACT Relating to compensation of a retired justice or judge acting as a judge 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 2002 c 137 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; 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 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 a court of
the state of Washington, shall receive a compensation of one-two
hundred 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 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, provided that a retired justice or judge may decline to accept
compensation.