(1) Notwithstanding § 24-8-215 regarding mandatory retirement under the Arkansas Judicial Retirement System for any judge or justice upon reaching seventy (70) years of age or any other law to the contrary, any judge or justice covered under the system who served continuously for at least sixteen (16) years, who is at least eighty (80) years of age, who is not serving on April 19, 1995, and who is ineligible for retirement due to having served beyond the mandatory retirement age shall be entitled to receive retirement benefits under the system.
(2) Retirement benefits under this section shall be retroactive to January 1, 1995, or, for judges or justices retiring after 1995, to January 1 of the year of retirement.