Eligibility for retirement under this Part shall be as follows:

A.(1)  Any person covered by this Part who becomes a member of the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System and who prior to application for service retirement has accumulated a total of at least eighteen years of creditable service as a judge or court officer shall be entitled to retire without regard to the age he has attained at the time he makes application for retirement.

(2)  Upon attaining a total of twenty years of creditable service, at least twelve years of which were as a judge or court officer, any such person shall be entitled to retire if he has attained the age of fifty years.

(3)  Upon attaining a total of at least twelve years of creditable service as a judge or court officer, any such person shall be entitled to retire when he attains the age of fifty-five years.

(4)  Upon attaining a total of at least ten years of creditable service as a judge or court officer, any such person shall be entitled to retire when he attains the age of sixty-five years.

(5)  Upon attaining the age of seventy years any such person shall be entitled to retire hereunder without regard to the number of years of creditable service as a judge or court officer; however, nothing in this Title shall be construed as prohibiting a judge from remaining in office beyond his seventieth birthday so long as remaining in office is constitutionally permissible.

(6)(a)(i)  Any judge, whether covered by this Subpart or La. Rev. Stat. 11:1351 through 1358, whose judicial division or position was not precleared by the United States Department of Justice prior to July 30, 1991, holding office on the initial effective date of this Paragraph by appointment or otherwise, and any judge currently serving in a court which has been held by a federal court to be in violation of the Voting Rights Act or currently serving in a court which is restructured by federal court order, shall be allowed to retire at the end of his service in office, regardless of his age and years of service, provided that such judge does not seek reelection to his current judicial office nor seek election to another judicial office.

(ii)  The judge shall receive as a base annual benefit that proportion of his annual judicial pay, as it exists on the date of his retirement, which his number of years served on a court of record bears to twenty-five.  As a supplemental benefit, a judge covered by La. Rev. Stat. 11:1351 through 1358 shall receive a sum equal to three and one-half percent of his annual judicial pay, as it exists on the date of his retirement, for each year, not to exceed four years, that he served in the armed forces of the United States, a sum equal to three and one-half percent of such pay for each year that he served as a member of the legislature of this state, and a sum equal to two and one-half percent of such pay for each year that he served in a prosecutorial capacity with an office of district attorney or any other political subdivision or agency of this state.  As a supplemental benefit, a judge covered by the provisions of this Subpart shall receive a sum equal to what would otherwise be payable to him, as a retirement benefit by the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System, assuming he was otherwise eligible for retirement thereunder, disregarding any age and years of service requirements, on account of his service in the armed forces of the United States, his service as a member of the legislature of this state, and his service rendered in a prosecutorial capacity with an office of district attorney or any other political subdivision or agency of this state, provided credit and benefits relative thereto are established in accordance with the otherwise applicable laws concerning same governing the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System.  However, in no case shall the total of benefits paid to any judge exceed one hundred percent of his judicial pay, as it exists on the date of his retirement.

(b)  Any judge seeking to avail himself of the provisions of this Paragraph shall make application for such retirement before November 21, 1993, and such application shall be irrevocable.

(c)  The supreme court for the state of Louisiana has the authority to continue the pay and benefits for those judges whose seats were not precleared by the United States Department of Justice until the effective retirement date for such judges; or until the lawsuits challenging those judgeships are finally resolved, including all appeals.

B.  Any person who retires under the provisions of Subsection A hereof shall receive the full retirement benefit, without reduction of any percentage which may be provided in the laws pertaining to the retirement system for retirement before the normal retirement age, if such person has not previously received a refund of his accumulated contributions.

C.  The retirement benefits provided by this Subpart shall not exceed the limitation provided in La. Rev. Stat. 11:444(B).  When a member has earned benefits equal to one hundred percent of his average compensation, no further contribution shall be required of him.  The state, its agencies and political subdivisions shall continue to pay to the system the employer‘s contribution.

D.  For purposes of computing retirement benefits for persons covered by this Subpart, “average compensation” means the average annual earned compensation of the member for any three years of creditable service during which such earned compensation was the highest.

E.  For purposes of this Section, a court officer shall include a law clerk of a judge or justice of an appellate court.

Added by Acts 1976, No. 518, §1.  Amended by Acts 1977, No. 630, §1; Acts 1983, No. 674, §1; Acts 1991, No. 1063, §1, eff. July 30, 1991; Redesignated from La. Rev. Stat. 13:16 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §§3, 5, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 1993, No. 264 , §1; Acts 1995, No. 1175, §1; Acts 2003, No. 1025, §1, eff. July 1, 2003; Acts 2003, No. 1189, §1.