Georgia lawmakers will study the costs of numerous changes to pension plans for teachers, police and other state employees, including legislators themselves.
The House Retirement Committee on Monday agreed to authorize actuarial studies of the costs of eight bills affecting the pensions of various state employees. Once the costs are known, the bills would be considered in next year’s legislative session.
Here’s a look at the various proposals:
Rehired teachers: Georgia currently allows some retired teachers to return to work full time while still collecting retirement benefits. The law only applies to teachers who are rehired to teach in “highest need” areas as determined by a Regional Education Service Agency. Typically, these are positions teaching math, special education and other hard-to-fill subjects.
A recent audit found the rehire program has had little impact. Georgia’s rehire rules are more restrictive than those in other states, so school districts haven’t been able to hire many retired teachers for high-need jobs, the audit determined.
The rehire authorization is set to expire next June. House Bill 372 would renew the program through June 2030 but allow school districts to determine for themselves what constitutes “highest need” areas.
State police officers: Concerns about recruiting and retaining state police officers have led legislators to consider boosting retirement benefits. Retirement Committee Chairman John Carson, R-Marietta, said Georgia ranks 49th among the states in state law enforcement retirement pay.
House Bill 337 would create a new state law enforcement officer retirement plan. The monthly benefit would depend on an officer’s years of service. Those with 25 years or more of service would receive 80% of their average final compensation each month — up from a maximum of 30% currently.
Under HB 337, state troopers, GBI agents, motor carrier compliance officers, Capitol police and other certified state police officers would be eligible for the higher benefit. A second bill — House Bill 808 — would extend the higher benefit to those officers as well as to sworn officers in the Department of Corrections, Department of Juvenile Justice, Department of Community Supervision and numerous other agencies.
The committee approved actuarial studies of both bills. But Carson said the broader HB 808 would likely cost nearly $200 million to implement. That might be more than some lawmakers are willing to spend.
“I just can tell everyone right now, it’s going to be an expensive bill,” he said.
Legislators: Three years ago, the General Assembly approved a pension increase for lawmakers in office as of January 2022. Those legislators earn $50 per month in pension benefits for every year they serve. Legislators who retired before that date earn $36 per month for every year of service.
House Bill 924 would pay retired legislators $50 per month for every year in office, regardless of when they retired. The bill effectively is a pension hike for legislators who retired before 2022.
A separate proposal, House Bill 895, would keep the existing tiered system but raise the benefit to $75 for legislators in office as of Jan. 1, 2026. The bill also would pay the House speaker — currently Jon Burns — $300 per month for each year of service, up from $250 a month.
Carson said neither proposal would require additional tax dollars because the Legislative Retirement System has far more money on hand than it owes in future benefit payments — it’s funded at 133% of projected benefit payments. He said no state tax dollars have been placed in the retirement plan for at least 20 years.
Other pension changes: The committee also voted to seek actuarial studies on several other pension-related bills.
House Bill 818 would allow full-time Georgia Tax Court judges to become members of the Judicial Retirement System. Currently, they are members of the Employee Retirement System. Last November, Georgia voters approved a measure that replaced the Georgia Tax Tribunal with the Georgia Tax Court and moved it from the executive to the judicial branch of government.
House Bill 891 would increase the employee contribution to the Georgia State Employees’ Pension and Saving Plan to 3% of their pay, up from 1.25%. The board that oversees the program would be authorized to set employee contributions as high as 4%. But the payout for employees would also rise to 1.5% of salary for each year of service beginning in July 2026, up from 1% currently.
Finally, House Bill 905 would allow employees who change jobs to transfer their service time from the Employee Retirement System to the Judicial Retirement System. Carson said some employees have credit in both systems but can’t retire because they haven’t earned enough time in either system separately.
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