Territorial Judgeship Retirement Equity Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 282 To amend certain retirement provisions for judges serving in territorial district courts, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 12, 2021 Mr. SAN NICOLAS (for himself, Ms. PLASKETT, and Mr. SABLAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend certain retirement provisions for judges serving in territorial district courts, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Territorial Judgeship 4 Retirement Equity Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. RETIREMENT FOR JUDGES IN TERRITORIES AND 6 POSSESSIONS. 7 (a) JUDGES IN TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS.— 8 Section 373 of title 28, United States Code, is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H282.IH H282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 282 IH (1) by striking subsection (a) and redesignating 1 subsection (b) as subsection (a); 2 (2) in subsection (a), as redesignated by para- 3 graph (1), by striking ‘‘The age and service require- 4 ments for retirement under subsection (a) of this 5 section’’ and inserting ‘‘IN GENERAL—A judge of 6 the District Court of Guam, the District Court of 7 the Northern Mariana Islands, or the District Court 8 of the Virgin Islands who retires from office after 9 attaining the age and meeting the service require- 10 ments (whether continuous or otherwise) of this sub- 11 section shall during the remainder of the judge’s 12 lifetime receive an annuity equal to the salary the 13 judge is receiving at the time the judge retires. The 14 age and service requirements for retirement under 15 this subsection’’; 16 (3) by inserting after subsection (a), as redesig- 17 nated by paragraph (1), the following new sub- 18 section: 19 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL RULE FOR RETIREMENT FOR JUDGES 20 IN TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection 22 (a), a judge of the District Court of Guam, the Dis- 23 trict Court of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the 24 District Court of the Virgin Islands, who is not re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H282.IH H282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 282 IH appointed following the expiration of the term of of- 1 fice of such judge, and who retires upon the comple- 2 tion of such term shall, upon attaining the age of 3 fifty years and during the remainder of the judge’s 4 lifetime, receive an annuity equal to the salary the 5 judge is receiving at the time the judge retires, if— 6 ‘‘(A) such judge has served a term of ten 7 years as a judge on a court identified in this 8 subsection; and 9 ‘‘(B) such judge advised the President, in 10 writing, that they are willing to accept re- 11 appointment as a judge on the court on which 12 the judge is serving— 13 ‘‘(i) not earlier than nine months and 14 not later than six months before the date 15 that is ten years after the date on which 16 the judge was appointed to the court on 17 which the judge is serving; and 18 ‘‘(ii) not later than sixty days after 19 each Congress is convened following the 20 Congress that is in session at the time of 21 the initial notification required under 22 clause (i). 23 A judge or former judge who is receiving an an- 24 nuity pursuant to this subsection and who 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H282.IH H282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 282 IH thereafter accepts compensation for civil office 1 or employment by the Government of the 2 United States (other than the performance of 3 judicial duties pursuant to recall under sub- 4 section (c)) or in the practice of law represents 5 (or supervises or directs the representation of) 6 a client in making any civil claim against the 7 United States or any agency thereof shall for- 8 feit all rights to an annuity under this sub- 9 section for the period in which such compensa- 10 tion is received or legal representation is under- 11 taken. 12 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION DATE.— 13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A judge of the Dis- 14 trict Court of Guam, the District Court of the 15 Northern Mariana Islands, or the District 16 Court of the Virgin Islands, in active service, 17 shall be subject to the requirements of this sub- 18 section beginning on January 1, 2019. 19 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION TO ADVICE REQUIRE- 20 MENT.—A judge of the District Court of Guam, 21 the District Court of the Northern Mariana Is- 22 lands, or the District Court of the Virgin Is- 23 lands, in active service on January 1, 2019, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H282.IH H282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 282 IH shall be deemed to have met the advice require- 1 ment under paragraph (1)(B).’’; 2 (4) in subsection (c)— 3 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) 4 by inserting ‘‘REQUIREMENTS FOR SENIOR 5 JUDGE’’; 6 (B) in paragraph (1)— 7 (i) by striking ‘‘Any’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘A’’; and 9 (ii) by striking ‘‘this section may elect 10 to become a senior judge of the court upon 11 which he served before retiring.’’ and in- 12 serting ‘‘subsection (a) or (b), with 15 13 years or more of judicial service (whether 14 continuous or otherwise), may elect to be- 15 come a senior judge of the court upon 16 which the judge served before retiring. Any 17 judge or former judge who is receiving an 18 annuity pursuant to subsection (b), with 19 less than 15 years of judicial service 20 (whether continuous or otherwise), may 21 elect to become a senior judge of the court 22 upon which the judge served before retir- 23 ing upon attaining the age of sixty-five 24 years.’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H282.IH H282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 282 IH (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘he’’ and 1 inserting ‘‘the judge’’; 2 (D) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘he’’ and 3 inserting ‘‘the senior judge’’; 4 (E) in paragraph (4)— 5 (i) by striking ‘‘Any’’ and inserting 6 ‘‘A’’; and 7 (ii) by striking ‘‘subsection (a) of this 8 section’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a) or 9 (b)’’; and 10 (F) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘Any’’ 11 and inserting ‘‘A’’; 12 (5) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘Any’’ and in- 13 serting ‘‘EMPLOYMENT OF SENIOR JUDGE—A’’; 14 (6) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘Service’’ and 15 inserting ‘‘COMPUTATION OF AGGREGATE JUDICIAL 16 SERVICE—Service’’; 17 (7) in subsection (e)— 18 (A) by striking ‘‘Any’’ and inserting 19 ‘‘MENTAL OR PHYSICAL DISABILITY—A’’; 20 (B) by striking ‘‘who is removed by the 21 President of the United States’’ and inserting 22 ‘‘who has served at least five years (whether 23 continuous or otherwise) and who retires or is 24 removed from office’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H282.IH H282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 282 IH (C) by striking ‘‘or who is not reappointed 1 (as judge of such court),’’; 2 (D) by striking ‘‘, upon attaining the age 3 of sixty-five years or upon relinquishing office if 4 he is then beyond the age of sixty-five years, (1) 5 if his judicial service, continuous or otherwise, 6 aggregates fifteen years or more, to receive dur- 7 ing the remainder of his life an annuity equal 8 to the salary he received when he left office, or 9 (2) if his judicial service, continuous or other- 10 wise, aggregated less than fifteen years but not 11 less than ten years,’’; 12 (E) by striking ‘‘his life an annuity equal 13 to that proportion of such salary which the ag- 14 gregate number of his years of his judicial serv- 15 ice bears to fifteen.’’ and inserting ‘‘the judge’s 16 lifetime—’’; and 17 (F) by adding at the end the following new 18 paragraphs: 19 ‘‘(1) an annuity equal to 50 percent of the sal- 20 ary payable to a judge on a court identified in this 21 subsection in regular active service, if before retire- 22 ment or removal such judge served less than 10 23 years; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H282.IH H282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 282 IH ‘‘(2) an annuity equal to the salary payable to 1 a judge on a court identified in this subsection in 2 regular active service, if before retirement or re- 3 moval such judge served at least 10 years.’’; and 4 (8) in subsection (g)— 5 (A) by striking ‘‘Any retired judge’’ and 6 inserting ‘‘COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT—A 7 retired judge’’; 8 (B) by striking ‘‘under subsection (a)’’ and 9 inserting ‘‘under subsection (a) or (b), with at 10 least 15 years of judicial service (whether con- 11 tinuous or otherwise), or is entitled to receive 12 an annuity under subsection (e)’’; 13 (C) by striking ‘‘him’’ and inserting ‘‘such 14 judge’’; and 15 (D) by striking ‘‘95’’ and inserting ‘‘100’’. 16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 17 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 18 of this Act. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H282.IH H282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS