MAGISTRATE JUDGE RETIREMENT CHANGES

SB 151 amends New Mexico's Magistrate Retirement Act to adjust eligibility requirements and pension calculations for magistrate judges who became members on or after July 1, 2014. It increases the required years of service credit from five to eight years for judges aged 65 or older to qualify for normal retirement (Section 2). The bill also revises the pension formula for these judges, replacing a 5% multiplier for pre-2014 service with a 3.5% multiplier for post-2014 service, calculated using a different salary averaging method (Section 3). These changes directly affect current and future magistrate judges under the state retirement system.