WY House of Reps. considers bill to raise retirement age for Supreme Court Justices

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Another effort to change Wyoming’s mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court Justices and State Court Judges has gained initial support from the state House of Representatives.  The current retirement age is 70 and a number of groups have called for that mandatory age to be raised because they say that too many good judges are being forced into retirement.  The most recent was Supreme Court Justice Michael Golden.  But in the past, the House and Senate could not reach a consensus on what the retirement age should be.  Sponsor, Cheyenne Republican Dan Zwonitzer, says he is taking a different approach with the proposed constitutional amendment this year.

“So what we are proposing this year is a two part process.  The first is this joint resolution to amend the constitution, to take out a mandatory age limit and then there will be a subsequent bill that we can discuss on what that age limit should be.”

The bill will be debated two more times.