Rep. Rob Leverett Introduces Proposed Legislation to Reform Georgia’s Judicial Pay Structure

ATLANTA - State Representative Rob Leverett (R-Elberton), chairman of the House Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee, today announced two proposed bills he intends to file during the upcoming 2025 legislative session. The bills would be aimed at reforming the structure of judicial pay for both Superior Court judges and state-wide judges in Georgia.

"It is necessary that we ensure judicial compensation in Georgia is both fair and aligned with the scope of responsibility each court carries," said Rep. Leverett. "By introducing these changes, it is my hope that we can bring greater consistency to judicial salaries, reduce disparities and create a more transparent and equitable system for our state's judiciary. The goal is to enhance fairness in pay across the state, making Superior Court judges' salaries more consistent across the judicial circuits, and ensuring that the pay of all state-paid judges, including appellate and other statewide judges, correlates with the responsibilities of their respective positions. I am committed to working closely with my legislative colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure the success of this much needed reform and look forward to continuing the discussion on the topic during the legislative session."

The proposed bills would aim to establish a more standardized approach to judicial salary adjustments. The bills would not establish specific judicial salaries. Instead, they would remove the set salary amounts for judges on the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Statewide Business Court, new Tax Court and Superior Courts from the Code, replacing them with a statutory maximum salary cap and allowing the specific salary for each court to be set in the annual appropriations process. This cap for each court would be set as a percentage of the salary paid to federal district court judges in Atlanta. The cap percentages would differ for each court, with the Supreme Court having the highest cap. Additionally, the bills would limit the local supplements that counties can pay to superior court judges and would aim to phase out these supplements as the state-paid portion of their salary increases.

Judge Ann B. Harris, President of the Council of Superior Court Judges, welcomed the legislative initiative. "The inadequacies in the current compensation structure, and the resulting burden that has fallen on the counties to try to address these problems, have been years in the making. We are grateful to our legislators for a bill that addresses the issues in a comprehensive, fair manner, which is good for the judiciary and good for the people of this state, who need and deserve well-qualified, experienced judges."

Once the proposed legislation has been filed with the Clerk of the House, the full text of each bill will be made available here. The 2025 legislative session begins Monday, January 13, 2025.

*Editor's note: draft copies of the proposed bills are attached.

Representative Rob Leverett represents the citizens of District 123, which includes Elbert, Lincoln and Wilkes counties, as well as portions of Columbia and Madison counties. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2020 and currently serves as Chairman of the Reapportionment & Redistricting Committee, Secretary of the Judiciary Committee and Chief Deputy Whip of the Majority Caucus. He also serves on the Agriculture & Consumer Affairs, Governmental Affairs, Judiciary Non-Civil and Juvenile Justice committees.

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