The Honorable Rupert A. Byrdsong from the Los Angeles Superior Court recently completed his term as the 90th President of the California Judges Association (CJA), having been only the 4th African American to serve in this position.
During his tenure Judge Byrdsong and the CJA Executive Board sponsored historic legislation (AB2443) regarding judicial pensions, creating more retirement options for bench officers who reach certain age and duration milestones.
The previous pension plan required judges to work until at least age 65 with 20-years of service before vesting; this model created significant challenges to some officers appointed later in life, and severe hardship to some who for unplanned reasons needed to leave their careers prior to vesting. The modified retirement plan under AB2443 creates options allowing judges to retire at the age of 60 with at least 15-years of service, or at 65 with at least 10-years of service.
CJA’s accomplishment, led by Judge Byrdsong, was no small feat in that two previous bills promoting pension reform were vetoed by Governors Brown and Newsom, and no such pension revision had occurred in almost three decades.
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Judge Byrdsong credits passage of the bill as follows: “I personally met with members from the Legislative Black Caucus, Senator Steve Bradford, Assemblymember Mike Gipson, Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, Senator Sydney Kamlager, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, in addition to meeting with Senator María Elena Durazo with the assistance of Judge Lucy Armendariz.
“We also garnered incredible support from a number of people and organizations, including the American Judges Association, the California Lawyers Association, the California Employment Lawyers Association, California Women Lawyers, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, the Citizens for Accountable Leadership, and Kevin Johnson, the former Mayor of Sacramento. Before AB 2443 was born, we had already reached out to the decisionmakers to develop their ‘buy-in.’
“I sent letters to Governor Newsom and the first African-American Director of the Department of Finance, Joe Stephenshaw. The passage of AB 2443 marks the most significant change to our pension program in 28 years!”
Judge Byrdsong notes, that the Chief Justice of California, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, was instrumental in how he approached achieving pension equity: “The Chief Justice shared perspective and historical context throughout this process as she is probably the biggest advocate for the judicial branch, the judiciary, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession.”
CJA’s long time lobbyists Mike Belote and Cliff Costa of California Advocates, Inc., were critical in advancing the historic legislation, as acknowledged by Byrdsong: “We could not have obtained these changes without the professional and superb services of California Advocates. We are so grateful to have them on our team!”
Judge Byrdsong celebrates the newly created options as providing an offramp for judicial officers who for whatever reason need to leave their profession short of the current requirements without losing all of the years of service for which they had contributed to the state’s pension system, and is optimistic that early departures will open additional positions that might further diversify the bench in accordance with the changing demographics throughout the state.
Per Byrdsong: “Diversity matters. When the bench looks like the communities it serves, true access to justice can be achieved.” Indeed, this past year marked the first time that CJA and the California Judges Foundation (CJF), its non-profit fundraising arm, was led by African American judges with Byrdsong leading CJA and the Honorable Karen Robinson (Orange County) leading CJF. The Honorable David Rosenberg from Yolo County begins his term as the 91st President of CJA on October 1st.
The CJA is the largest judicial officer organization in the country with over 2200 active and retired members.