Constitutional Amendment 2: On the hiring of retired judges

This amendment seeks to authorize the hiring of retired Justices or judges on a limited basis.  Currently, judges and Justices must retire by age 70. 

Hawaii’s court system has a long standing backlog of cases. The Judiciary regular hires “per diem” judges—judges who work for a limited period of time—to hear cases and minimize some of the existing case backlog.

This amendment would allow the Judiciary to hire retired judges or Justices in a fashion similar to “per diem” judges.  Judges or Justices hired pursuant to this amendment could serve at the same court level that they served at prior to retirement, or lower.

The Judiciary submitted testimony in support of this amendment.