CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

HOUSE BILL 1954

Chapter 247, Laws of 2003

58th Legislature
2003 Regular Session



JUDGES PRO TEMPORE--COMPENSATION



EFFECTIVE DATE: 7/27/03

Passed by the House March 11, 2003
  Yeas 92   Nays 0

FRANK CHOPP
________________________________________    
Speaker of the House of Representatives


Passed by the Senate April 16, 2003
  Yeas 46   Nays 0


BRAD OWEN
________________________________________    
President of the Senate
 
CERTIFICATE

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.


CYNTHIA ZEHNDER
________________________________________    
Chief Clerk
Approved May 12, 2003.








GARY LOCKE
________________________________________    
Governor of the State of Washington
 
FILED
May 12, 2003 - 4:26 p.m.







Secretary of State
State of Washington


_____________________________________________ 

HOUSE BILL 1954
_____________________________________________

Passed Legislature - 2003 Regular Session
State of Washington58th Legislature2003 Regular Session

By Representatives Moeller and McMahan

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.


         Passed by the House March 11, 2003.
         Passed by the Senate April 16, 2003.
         Approved by the Governor May 12, 2003.
         Filed in Office of Secretary of State May 12, 2003.