--- title: HB 1507. Wayne County; State Court; judge and solicitor; revise salary collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb1507 cite_as: HB 1507, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1507 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1507.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1507/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73876 date: 2026-05-11 status: passed corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1506.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1508.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 887 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1507.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 1507 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: bill status_date: 2026-05-11 last_action: Effective Date 2026-05-11 sponsors: - Steven Meeks - Buddy DeLoach text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB1507/2025 upstream_id: 2129502 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - Wayne County government - state court salaries - local legislation - judicial pay --- # HB 1507. Wayne County; State Court; judge and solicitor; revise salary ## Text House Bill 1507 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE) By: Representatives Meeks of the 178th and DeLoach of the 167th A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act establishing the State Court of Wayne County (formerly the City Court of Jesup, in and for the County of Wayne), approved July 31, 1916 (Ga. L. 1916, p. 248), as amended, particularly by an Act approved April 26, 2016 (Ga. L. 2016, p. 3661), so as to revise the salary of the judge and solicitor; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. An Act establishing the State Court of Wayne County (formerly the City Court of Jesup, in and for the County of Wayne), approved July 31, 1916 (Ga. L. 1916, p. 248), as amended, particularly by an Act approved April 26, 2016 (Ga. L. 2016, p. 3661), is amended by revising Section 3 as follows: "SECTION 3. (a) The judge of the State Court of Wayne County shall be paid an annual salary of $135,711.27. (b) 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. (c) The salary provided for in this section shall be paid in monthly installments from the funds of Wayne County at the direction of the board of commissioners of Wayne County." SECTION 2. Said Act is further amended by revising Section 4 as follows: "SECTION 4. (a) The solicitor of the State Court of Wayne County shall be paid an annual salary of $135,711.27. (b) 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. (c) The salary provided for in this section shall be paid in monthly installments from the funds of Wayne County at the direction of the board of commissioners of Wayne County." SECTION 3. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. 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. ### Plain-language summary 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 it 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. ## Status - Status: Passed (2026-05-11) - Last action: Effective Date 2026-05-11 (2026-05-11) - Sponsors: Steven Meeks, Buddy DeLoach - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73876 > The history, votes, and amendments (887 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1507.md?full=1