PHOENIX (AP) - The Latest on a challenge to changes made by the Arizona Legislature to judges’ pension system (all times local):
11:10 a.m.
The Arizona Supreme Court says it was unconstitutional for the Legislature to change the amount active judges have to pay into their state pension plans and the yearly increases they receive upon retirement.
The ruling issued Thursday also said the state is on the hook for the cost of reinstating those benefits for active judges and elected officials in their retirement plan when the law was passed.
The court ruled that the 2011 law making the changes violates the state Constitution’s ban on diminishing promised pensions.
Judges who took office before the law took effect sued. That group includes most state court judges and four of the five current Supreme Court justices.
Those four justices stepped aside from the case, and Justice Clint Bolick and four lower court judges who aren’t covered by the changes issued the decision.
The Legislature eliminated pensions for newly appointed judges and new elected officials in 2013 because their pension plan was so badly underfunded.
3 a.m.
The Arizona Supreme Court is scheduled to rule Thursday on a pocketbook issue for judges in the state court system.
At issue in the case are changes that the Legislature made in 2011 to the retirement system for judges and certain other officials to reduce cost-of-living benefits increases and increase participants’ contributions.
A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the changes was filed on behalf of judges who took office before they took effect. That group includes most state court judges and four of the five current Supreme Court justices.
Those four justices stepped aside from the case.
That leaves the outcome in the hands of high court’s most recently appointed member, Justice Clint Bolick, plus four lower court judges who also aren’t covered by the changes.
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