Six state trial judges who were elected in 2012 but didn’t take the bench until 2013 are stuck with a less generous pension plan that kicked in that year, the First District Court of Appeal said Tuesday.

The unanimous three-justice panel affirmed a San Francisco Superior Court ruling that found even though the six trial court judges were initially included in the more lavish Judges’ Retirement System II plan, that doesn’t mean they were exempt from statutory changes enacted on Jan. 1, 2013.

Kathleen Banke (2009). Credit: Jason Doiy/The Recorder