The state House Judiciary Committee yesterday amended a bill extending the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 80 years old to make it apply to future judges, defusing a political confrontation with Gov. Linda Lingle.

State lawmakers have said the bill, a proposed constitutional amendment, is about ending age discrimination that arbitrarily forces experienced judges off the bench.

But the Lingle administration believes it was an attempt to restrict the governor's ability to replace state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald T.Y. Moon, who reaches the mandatory retirement age in 2010, the last year of Lingle's second term.

The amended bill would apply the new mandatory retirement age of 80 to judges appointed after November 2008, provided voters agree to the constitutional amendment. The bill now goes to the House Finance Committee.

State Rep. Tommy Waters, D-51st (Lanikai, Waimanalo), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, described the amended bill as a compromise. A similar amendment failed, however, before the state Senate passed its version of the bill last week.

Voters in 2006 rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have completely lifted the retirement age on judges, which was established by the state constitution in 1959.

"In my personal opinion, it should be lifted altogether," Waters said. "But I don't think that will pass, based on what happened in the last election.

"So I think we've got a real chance of passing this, especially with the attorney general now on board."

State Attorney General Mark Bennett and Linda Smith, the governor's senior policy adviser, told the committee they would support the compromise.

Bennett said the amended bill "takes away any argument that it is in any way politically motivated."

But Bennett prefers a task force that would study alternatives to a mandatory retirement age for judges, such as a senior judge system where judges are replaced but still handle a limited caseload at reduced pay.

Waters also is interested in a task force in the event the bill does not move forward or if voters do not approve the constitutional amendment.

AARP Hawai'i and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i said the bill is a step toward ending age discrimination. But the ACLU Hawai'i questioned why lawmakers would allow the bill to discriminate against sitting judges.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.