(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.