Georgia CommonsHouse · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 1507: Wayne County; State Court; judge and solicitor; revise salary
Last action May 11, 2026 · Effective Date
House Bill 1507 sets new annual salaries of $135,711.27 for the judge and solicitor of the State Court of Wayne County, with future cost-of-living adjustments tied to county employee raises.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
The State Court of Wayne County, originally created in 1916 as the City Court of Jesup, has its judge and solicitor salaries set by state law rather than local ordinance. This bill amends that 1916 Act, as previously updated in 2016, to revise those salaries. Under the bill, both the judge and the solicitor of the State Court of Wayne County would be paid an annual salary of $135,711.27, paid monthly from Wayne County funds as directed by the Wayne County Board of Commissioners. Each year, that salary would be adjusted by the same percentage as any cost-of-living increase the Board of Commissioners approves for general county employees. The bill repeals any conflicting laws and applies specifically to Wayne County's court system.
What the bill does
- Sets the annual salary of the State Court of Wayne County judge at $135,711.27, replacing the prior salary figure set in 2016.
- Sets the annual salary of the State Court of Wayne County solicitor at the same amount, $135,711.27.
- Ties future annual salary changes for both officials to the cost-of-living adjustment the Wayne County Board of Commissioners approves for general county employees, if any.
- Requires the salaries to be paid in monthly installments from Wayne County funds as directed by the county's board of commissioners.
- Repeals any prior laws that conflict with these salary provisions.
Who it affects
The bill directly affects the judge and solicitor of the State Court of Wayne County, whose pay it sets, and the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, which funds the salaries and approves any cost-of-living adjustments applied to them.
Why it matters
The change fixes how much two specific Wayne County court officials are paid and links future raises to the same cost-of-living process used for general county employees, affecting the county's budget and the compensation of its state court leadership.
Key provisions
- Section 1 revises Section 3 of the 1916 Act to set the judge's salary at $135,711.27 per year, adjusted annually for any county cost-of-living increase, paid monthly from county funds.
- Section 2 revises Section 4 of the same Act to set the solicitor's salary at the identical $135,711.27 annual amount under the same adjustment and payment terms.
- Section 3 repeals all laws or parts of laws that conflict with this Act.
From the bill
“The judge of the State Court of Wayne County shall be paid an annual salary of $135,711.27.”
“The salary provided for in subsection (a) of this section shall be adjusted annually by the same percentage as the cost-of-living adjustment, if any, that is approved by the Wayne County Board of Commissioners for general county employees in such year.”
Discussed in meetings (5)
The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.
House floor session, March 12, 2026 (legislative day 31)
From 0:48:36 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 2584
Summary by Georgia Commons: The clerk read a favorable committee report on HB 1507. The House later included the Wayne County measure in a four-bill uncontested local calendar. Without separate presentation or debate, the House passed the calendar in a single recorded vote, 158 to 0.
- Read aloud: House floor session, March 6, 2026 (legislative day 28, AM), 0:46:14
- Read aloud: House floor session, March 9, 2026 (legislative day 29), 1:06:18
- Read aloud: Senate floor session, March 16, 2026 (legislative day 32), 0:27:22
- Read aloud: Senate floor session, March 19, 2026 (legislative day 34), 0:42:18
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 574
- House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- House Sent to Governor (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted (House)
Show full history (13 actions)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Steven Meeks (R, HD-178)
- Buddy DeLoach (R, HD-167)
Votes
- House voteMarch 12, 2026
158 yea, 0 nay (10 not voting, 8 excused)
- Senate voteMarch 19, 2026
49 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 2 excused)
Topics
- Wayne County government
- state court salaries
- local legislation
- judicial pay