Georgia Rep. Rob Leverett (R-Elberton), who chairs the Georgia House Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee, is introducing legislation to increase and reform the pay of state-wide and Superior Court judges.
According to an announcement from the representative’s office, two pieces of legislation are being introduced during the 2025 legislative session, which begins Monday.
Together, the bills are described as reforming the structure of judicial pay for both types of judges mentioned by Leverett.
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One aspect of the legislation is to “establish a more standardized approach to judicial salary adjustments,” though his office noted that it would not set specific salaries. Instead, it would remove the set salaries for judges serving the Georgia Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Statewide Business Court, Superior Courts from the Georgia Code and the newly established Tax Court.
After removing the set salaries, Leverett’s proposed legislation would instead place a statutory maximum salary cap and allow specific salaries for each court to be set during annual appropriations processes in the Georgia General Assembly.
In layman’s terms, that means salaries would be set by state lawmakers during the budgeting process each year.
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For the state representative, the legislation is aimed at making things fair.
“It is necessary that we ensure judicial compensation in Georgia is both fair and aligned with the scope of responsibility each court carries,” Leverett said in a statement. “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.”
Going further, Leverett’s statement said that “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.”
He said he would work across the political raise to ensure the “much needed reform” is able to pass in the the 2025 legislative session.
According to Leverett’s office, the legislation would set a salary cap “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.”
Leverett’s proposals have the backing of leaders at the Council of Superior Court Judges, with President Judge Ann B. Harris, serving in Cobb County, releasing a statement in support of the bills.
“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,” Harris said.
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