California Code, Government Code - GOV § 75029

For any judge who, prior to becoming a judge, served as a “judge of an excluded court” as defined below, there shall be included in the computation of the number of years of service as a judge the number of years he or she served as a “judge of an excluded court” if prior to the effective date of his or her retirement he or she has paid into the Judges' Retirement Fund a sum equal to the amount that would have been deducted from his or her salary and paid into that fund had he or she been a judge, during the time he or she was a “judge of an excluded court,” computed by applying to the rate of salary that he or she actually received during his or her first year of service as a judge the rate of deduction applicable to judges' salaries during that year.

As used in this section “judge of an excluded court” means a judge of a justice court or a judge, justice of the peace, or recorder of a court provided for by law prior to January 1, 1952.

A judge shall not, under this section, receive credit for that portion, if any, of his or her service as a judge of an excluded court, if other provisions of this chapter provide for the inclusion of that service in the computation of his or her years of service as a judge.