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Hawaii Mandatory Retirement Age for Justices and Judges, Amendment 3 (2014)
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The Hawaii Mandatory Retirement Age for Justices and Judges, Amendment 3 was on the November 4, 2014 ballot in Hawaii as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment, where it was defeated. The measure would have increased the mandatory age of retirement for judges and justices from 70 to 80.[1]
The amendment was sponsored in the Hawaii Legislature by State Senator Clayton Hee (D-23) as Senate Bill 886.[1]
In Hawaii, an amendment must win a majority of all votes cast on that particular proposal and a majority of the vote of everyone voting in that election. This is known as a double majority.
Election results
| Hawaii Amendment 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 No | 268,958 | 72.78% | ||
| Yes | 81,406 | 22.03% | ||
Due to Hawaii's double majority requirements, the amount of total votes in the overall election are used to calculate the percent of "yes" and "no" votes. This may result in the percents for the "yes" and "no" votes adding up to less than 100 percent.
Election results via: Hawaii Secretary of State
Text of measure
Ballot title
The text appeared on the ballot as follows:[1]
| “ | Shall the mandatory retirement age for all state court justices and judges be increased from seventy to eighty years of age?[2] | ” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article VI, Hawaii Constitution
The measure would have amended the third subsection of Section 3 of Article VI of the Hawaii Constitution:[1]
Section 3. ...
Tenure; Retirement
The term of office of justices and judges of the supreme court, intermediate appellate court and circuit courts shall be ten years. Judges of district courts shall hold office for the periods as provided by law. At least six months prior to the expiration of a justice's or judge's term of office, every justice and judge shall petition the judicial selection commission to be retained in office or shall inform the commission of an intention to retire. If the judicial selection commission determines that the justice or judge should be retained in office, the commission shall renew the term of office of the justice or judge for the period provided by this section or by law.
Justices and judges shall be retired upon attaining the age of seventy eighty years. They shall be included in any retirement law of the State.[2]
Support
The measure was introduced into the legislature by State Senator Clayton Hee (D-23).[1]
Supporters
Officials
Senate
The following state senators voted to place the measure on the ballot:[5]
- Note: A yes vote on the measure merely referred the question to voters and did not necessarily mean these legislators approved of the stipulations laid out in Amendment 3.
- Gilbert Kahele (D-1)
- Russell Ruderman (D-2)
- Joshua Green (D-3)
- Gilbert Keith-Agaran (D-5)
- Rosalyn Baker (D-6)
- Jamie Kalani English (D-7)
- Ronald Kouchi (D-8)
- Samuel Slom (R-9)
- Les Ihara, Jr. (D-10)
- Brian Taniguchi (D-11)
- Brickwood Galuteria (D-12)
- Susan Chun-Oakland (D-13)
- Donna Mercado Kim (D-14)
- Glenn Wakai (D-15)
- David Ige (D-16)
- Clarence Nishihara (D-17)
- Michelle Kidani (D-18)
- Will Espero (D-19)
- Mike Gabbard (D-20)
- Clayton Hee (D-23)
- Jill Tokuda (D-24)
- Laura Thielen (D-25)
House
The following state representatives voted to place the measure on the ballot:[5]
- Note: A yes vote on the measure merely referred the question to voters and did not necessarily mean these legislators approved of the stipulations laid out in Amendment 1.
- Mark Nakashima (D-1)
- Cliff Tsuji (D-2)
- Richard Onishi (D-3)
- Faye Hanohano (D-4)
- Nicole Lowen (D-6)
- Cindy Evans (D-7)
- Joe Souki (D-8)
- Justin Woodson (D-9)
- Angus McKelvey (D-10)
- Kaniela Ing (D-11)
- Kyle Yamashita (D-12)
- Diana Mele Carroll (D-13)
- Derek Kawakami (D-14)
- James Tokioka (D-15)
- Daynette Morikawa (D-16)
- Gene Ward (R-17)
- Mark Hashem (D-18)
- Bert Kobayashi (D-19)
- Calvin Say (D-20)
- Scott Nishimoto (D-21)
- Tom Brower (D-22)
- Isaac Choy (D-23)
- Della Au Belatti (D-24)
- Sylvia Luke (D-25)
- Scott Saiki (D-26)
- Takashi Ohno (D-27)
- John Mizuno (D-28)
- Karl Rhoads (D-29)
- Romy Cachola (D-30)
- Aaron Johanson (R-31)
- Linda Ichiyama (D-32)
- K. Mark Takai (D-33)
- Gregg Takayama (D-34)
- Roy Takumi (D-35)
- Beth Fukumoto (R-36)
- Ryan Yamane (D-37)
- Henry Aquino (D-38)
- Ty Cullen (D-39)
- Bob McDermott (R-40)
- Rida Cabanilla Arakawa (D-41)
- Sharon Har (D-42)
- Karen Leinani Awana (D-43)
- Jo Jordan (D-44)
- Lauren Kealohilani Matsumoto (R-45)
- Marcus Oshiro (D-46)
- Richard Fale (R-47)
- Jessica Wooley (D-48)
- Ken Ito (D-49)
- Cynthia Thielen (R-50)
- Chris Lee (D-51)
Organizations
- AARP Hawaii[6]
- League of Women Voters of Hawaii[7]
- ILWU — International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142
- Hawaii Family Advocates[8]
Arguments
- Gov. Abercrombie said, "As a matter of fact, [judicial retirement age is] a dead end. It deprives us of the opportunity to take full advantage of those who have had a career that has given them some depth of perception, of analysis and capacity that actually deprives us of legal minds and administrative capacity that would be most welcome on the Supreme Court.”[3]
- Attorney General David M. Louie stated, “People now live longer, healthier, and more productive lives and are contributing to their community and their jobs well past the age of seventy. In the local legal community, some of the finest minds and best attorneys are older than seventy.”[4]
- Jean Aoki of the League of Women Voters of Hawaii argued, “With the average life span of human beings increasing, the mandatory retirement age of 70 years has deprived our state of the continued services of many leaders who were really at their peak, capable of many more years in their respective positions.”[7]
Opposition
State Representative Denny Coffman (D-5) was the sole legislator to vote against SB 886.[1]
Opponents
- Former Rep. Denny Coffman (D-5)[1]
- Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu[9]
Arguments
The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu issued a statement against SB 886. The department wrote:
| “ | While the Department of the Prosecuting Attomey of the City and County of Honolulu supports judges and justices who are knowledgeable of the law and respectful to attomeys, staff, and witnesses pursuant to the Hawaii Revised Code of Judicial Conduct, the department notes that the mandatory retirement ofjudges andjustices who reach the age of 70 provides opportunity for judicial nominees who have a fresh approach in analyzing the laws and a strong commitment to treating all participants in the court in a professional manner. Moreover, the mandatory retirement of age 70 for justices and judges is sometimes our only opportunity for change.[2] | ” |
| —Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu[9] | ||
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the Hawaii Constitution
State Senator Clayton Hee (D-23) introduced a bill, known as Senate Bill 886, into the legislature to alter the constitution and put a measure before voters on January 18, 2013. The bill was approved through a two-thirds vote in both legislative chambers. SB 886 was approved by the Hawaii Senate on February 14, 2013. The amendment was approved by the Hawaii House of Representatives on April 4, 2013.[5]
Senate vote
February 14, 2013 Senate vote
| Hawaii SB 886 Senate Vote | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Yes | 22 | 100.00% | ||
| No | 0 | 0.00% | ||
House vote
April 4, 2013 House vote
| Hawaii SB 886 House Vote | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 50 | 98.04% | ||
| No | 1 | 1.96% | ||
Related measures
Louisiana also voted on a ballot measure related to judicial retirement ages in November 2014:
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Hawaii State Legislature, "Senate Bill No. 886," accessed June 25, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Honolulu Civil Beat, "Abercrombie: Change Retirement Age for Judges," June 5, 2012
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Hawaii Legislature, "SB 886 Judicial Testimony on January 29, 2013," accessed August 13, 2014
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Hawaii State Legislature, "SB886," accessed January 16, 2014
- ↑ Honolulu Civil Beat, "AARP Hawaii: Vote ‘Yes’ on Increasing Retirement Age of Judges," October 14, 2014
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Hawaii Legislature, "SB 886 Late Judicial Testimony on January 29, 2013," accessed August 13, 2014
- ↑ Hawaii Family Advocates, "HFA Responds to Constitutional Amendment Questions," October 20, 2014
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Hawaii Legislature, "SB 886 Finance Committee on March 27, 2013," accessed August 13, 2014
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