A key House committee backed a bill Thursday to tie the pay of top state judges to that of their federal colleagues, giving them a big salary boost well above what other state employees have received in recent years.
The judges say the salaries of members of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and superior courts often can’t compete with what big Atlanta law firms pay, and that prevents some qualified candidates from applying for the jobs when they are open.
The House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved House Bill 947 by Rep. Rob Leverett. R-Elberton, a lawyer, that would set up a system for top judges to see raises from $27,000 to almost $60,000. Funding for the raises would have to be approved by the General Assembly in a separate budget bill.
The legislation aims to both raise the salaries of judges and fix the current system, which allows lawmakers to approve local supplements for superior court judges. Because of that, some superior court judges are paid more than $200,000 a year, some $150,000, depending on the supplements local lawmakers have gotten through the General Assembly.
While judges have gotten cost-of-living raises like other state employees in recent years, the last big push for substantially changing the pay structure came in 2015, when lawmakers gave top judges raises of up to $12,000.
The House bill would raise the base pay of Supreme Court justices from $186,112 a year to $223,400, Court of Appeals justices from $184,990 to $212,230, and superior court judges from $141,970 to $201,060.
The superior court pay is somewhat misleading because $141,970 is what the state pays, and counties supplement those salaries.
In making his case before budget writers last fall, Supreme Court Presiding Justice Nels S.D. Peterson said that in 2016, the starting salary for first-year associates at big Atlanta law firms was about $155,000. He said it’s $215,000 a year now.
Pay for Georgia Supreme Court justices ranks 32nd nationally, Appeals Court judges come in at 23rd nationally and superior court judges at 45th nationally in terms of state salaries, he said. If the pay plan is approved, those rankings would be 15th, 12th and 14th, respectively.
“It would move us toward the top, we still wouldn’t be in the penthouse,” Leverett said. “It’s long overdue and it’s vital for the continued health of our judicial system.”
The bill — which would cost the state $21 million a year initially — would set the Supreme Court at a base rate comparable to what federal judges made two years earlier. Appeals Court justices would be paid about 95% of what a federal judge made, and superior court judges 90%.
Instead of the current county supplement system — which is based on whatever the local legislative delegation generally gets passed — superior court judges could get up to 10% “locality pay,” a kind of cost-of-living differential that could boost their salaries over $220,000 a year.
Superior court judges who already earn more than the state base rate could opt out of the pay plan. And while the salaries are tied to federal judicial pay — which rises every year — the General Assembly could decide not to fund increases every year.
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