(a) Each senior judge who ceases to hold office as a senior judge because of having reached the age of seventy years and who is an elector and a resident of this state shall be a state referee for the remainder of his term of office as a judge and shall be eligible for appointment as a state referee during the remainder of his life in the manner prescribed by law for the appointment of a judge of the court of which he is a member.

(b) Each such judge who was a judge of the Superior Court or the Court of Common Pleas may exercise, as shall be prescribed by law, the powers of a judge of the Superior Court on matters referred to him as a state referee by the Chief Court Administrator as provided in section 2 of article eighth of the amendments to the Constitution of this state.

(P.A. 74-309, S. 8, 17; P.A. 76-436, S. 10a, 68, 681; P.A. 79-426, S. 2; P.A. 80-222, S. 2; P.A. 82-248, S. 34; P.A. 84-546, S. 111, 173; P.A. 87-508, S. 8, 10.)

History: P.A. 76-436 revised section to reflect transfer of common pleas court functions to superior court, effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 79-426 specified that senior judges 70 years old or older are eligible for appointment as state referee where previously section stated that such senior judges “shall be” referees, implying automatic change in status; P.A. 80-222 specified that senior judges, upon reaching 70 years of age, automatically become state referees for the remaining portion of their term of office as judge; P.A. 82-248 made technical revision, rewording some provisions and dividing section into Subsecs. but made no substantive change; P.A. 84-546 made technical change in Subsec. (b), correcting constitutional cite; P.A. 87-508 amended Subsec. (a) to require that state referees be electors and residents of this state.

Cited. 199 C. 496.