HB900: HB900 Employees' Retirement System; any member shall be eligible to transfer funds to Judicial Retirement System; provide

Georgia law lets certain judicial officials who used to work under the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia move their prior contributions into the Georgia Judicial Retirement System when they take a covered judicial job. Currently the law names superior court judges, district attorneys, and solicitors-general as eligible, and it required them to notify both retirement boards by December 31, 2002. House Bill 900 rewrites that provision (O.C.G.A. section 47-23-64) to add state court judges to the list of officials who can transfer their funds, and it updates the notification deadline from December 31, 2002 to December 31, 2026, or within 90 days of joining the Judicial Retirement System or entering a covered position, whichever is later. The bill would take effect July 1, 2026, but only if state actuaries determine it is 'concurrently funded' under Georgia's Public Retirement Systems Standards Law; otherwise it automatically repeals itself on that date.

• Adds state court judges to the list of officials (previously superior court judges, district attorneys, and solicitors-general) eligible to transfer retirement contributions from the state employees' system into the Judicial Retirement System.
• Updates the deadline for notifying both retirement boards of a transfer election from December 31, 2002 to December 31, 2026.
• Keeps the existing 90-day notice window that applies after someone first joins the Judicial Retirement System or starts a covered judicial position, whichever comes later.
• Makes the change take effect July 1, 2026, only if state officials certify it is funded consistently with Georgia's Public Retirement Systems Standards Law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 20 of Title 47).
• Automatically repeals the entire Act on July 1, 2026, if that funding certification is not made.

State court judges who previously worked under the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia and are moving into judicial positions, as well as superior court judges, district attorneys, and solicitors-general already covered by the existing transfer rule. The Employees' Retirement System and Judicial Retirement System boards of trustees are also affected, since they administer the transfers.

State court judges who spent time as state employees before joining the bench would gain a path to carry their retirement contributions with them, potentially affecting their pension credit and benefits. The change only takes effect if it passes an actuarial funding check required for Georgia's public retirement systems.

• Section 1 revises paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of O.C.G.A. section 47-23-64 to add 'state court judge' to the categories of officials eligible to transfer retirement contributions.
• Section 1 also changes the notification deadline for electing a transfer from December 31, 2002 to December 31, 2026.
• Section 2 sets a conditional effective date of July 1, 2026, contingent on certification that the change is concurrently funded under the Public Retirement Systems Standards Law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 20 of Title 47).
• Section 2 provides that if the funding certification is not made, the Act does not take effect and is automatically repealed on July 1, 2026, as required by O.C.G.A. section 47-20-50(a).
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-01-12House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-04-04House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-04-02House Hopper (House)

• John Carson (R, HD-046)Primary sponsor
• Devan Seabaugh (R, HD-034)

• judicial retirement
• state court judges
• public pensions
• retirement system transfers