To repeal section 479.020, RSMo 1994, relating to municipal judge retirement, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to the same subject.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI,

AS FOLLOWS:

Section A. Section 479.020, RSMo 1994, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 479.020, to read as follows:

479.020. 1. Any city, town or village, including those operating under a constitutional or special charter, may, and cities with a population of four hundred thousand or more shall, provide by ordinance or charter for the selection, tenure and compensation of a municipal judge or judges consistent with the provisions of this chapter who shall have original jurisdiction to hear and determine all violations against the ordinances of the municipality. The method of selection of municipal judges shall be provided by charter or ordinance. Each municipal judge shall be selected for a term of not less than two years as provided by charter or ordinance.

2. Except where prohibited by charter or ordinance, the municipal judge may be a part-time judge and may serve as municipal judge in more than one municipality.

3. No person shall serve as a municipal judge of any municipality with a population of seven thousand five hundred or more or of any municipality in a county of the first class with a charter form of government unless he be licensed to practice law in this state unless, prior to January 2, 1979, he has served as municipal judge of that same municipality for at least three years.

4. Notwithstanding any other statute, a municipal judge need not be a resident of the municipality or of the circuit in which he serves except where ordinance or charter provides otherwise. Municipal judges shall be residents of Missouri.

5. Judges selected under the provisions of this section shall be municipal judges of the circuit court and shall be divisions of the circuit court of the circuit in which the municipality, or major geographical portion thereof, is located. The judges of these municipal divisions shall be subject to the rules of the circuit court which are not inconsistent with the rules of the supreme court. The presiding judge of the circuit shall have general administrative authority over the judges and court personnel of the municipal divisions within the circuit. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subsection, in any city with a population of over four hundred thousand with full-time municipal judges who are subject to a plan of merit selection and retention, such municipal judges and court personnel of the municipal divisions shall not be subject to court management and case docketing in the municipal divisions by the presiding judge or the rules of the circuit court of which the municipal divisions are a part.

6. No municipal judge shall hold any other office in the municipality which he serves as judge. The compensation of any municipal judge and other court personnel shall not be dependent in any way upon the number of cases tried, the number of guilty verdicts reached or the amount of fines imposed or collected.

7. Municipal judges shall be at least twenty-one years of age. No person shall serve as municipal judge after he has reached his [seventieth] seventy-fifth birthday.

8. Within six months after selection for the position, each municipal judge who is not licensed to practice law in this state shall satisfactorily complete the course of instruction for municipal judges prescribed by the supreme court. The state courts administrator shall certify to the supreme court the names of those judges who satisfactorily complete the prescribed course. If a municipal judge fails to complete satisfactorily the prescribed course within six months after his selection as municipal judge, his office shall be deemed vacant and such person shall not thereafter be permitted to serve as a municipal judge, nor shall any compensation thereafter be paid to such person for serving as municipal judge.