--- title: HB 769. Gwinnett Judicial Circuit; salary supplements for judges; change provisions collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb769 cite_as: HB 769, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb769 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb769.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb769/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71349 date: 2025-05-13 status: passed corpus_version: bills-2026-08-28 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/hb768.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb770.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 858 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb769.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 769 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-05-13 last_action: Act 221 sponsors: - Matt Reeves - Chuck Efstration - Soo Hong - Jasmine Clark - Billy Mitchell - Samuel Park text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB769/2025 upstream_id: 2006997 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - judicial salaries - Gwinnett County government - superior courts - local legislation --- # HB 769. Gwinnett Judicial Circuit; salary supplements for judges; change provisions ## Text 25 LC 47 3588/AP House Bill 769 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE) By: Representatives Reeves of the 99th, Efstration of the 104th, Hong of the 103rd, Clark of the 108th, Mitchell of the 88th, and others A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act creating the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit and providing for its powers, duties,1 jurisdiction, and officers, approved February 12, 1960 (Ga. L. 1960, p. 110), as amended,2 particularly by an Act approved April 10, 2014 (Ga. L. 2014, p. 3722), so as to change3 provisions relating to the salary supplements for the judges of the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit;4 to provide for a contingent effective date and automatic repeal ; to repeal conflicting laws;5 and for other purposes.6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:7 SECTION 1.8 An Act creating the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit and providing for its powers, duties,9 jurisdiction, and officers, approved February 12, 1960 (Ga. L. 1960, p. 110), as amended,10 particularly by an Act approved April 10, 2014 (Ga. L. 2014, p. 3722), is amended by11 revising Section 2A as follows:12 "SECTION 2A.13 The compensation and allowances of the judges of the Superior C ourt of the Gwinnett14 Judicial Circuit shall be as provided by law and in addition thereto the salary of each judge15 H. B. 769 - 1 - 25 LC 47 3588/AP shall be supplemented in the amount of $80,200.00 annually from the funds of Gwinnett16 County. Such supplement shall be paid in equal monthly installments. In addition to such17 supplement, the governing authority of Gwinnett County is authorized to pay the superior18 court judges of the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit such amount as sh all be fixed by the19 governing authority."20 SECTION 2.21 This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2025, provided that an Act to amend Article 1 of22 Chapter 6 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated , relating to general23 provisions concerning superior courts, so as to modify provisions regarding the compensation24 received by superior court judges, and to amend Code Section 45-7-4 of the Official Code25 of Georgia Annotated, relating to annual salaries of certain state officials and cost-of-living26 adjustments, which prohibits the payment of local salary suppl ements to superior court27 judges, is not enacted in the 2025 session of the General Assembly of Georgia. If such Act28 is approved, this Act shall not become effective and shall be a utomatically repealed on29 July 1, 2025.30 SECTION 3.31 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.32 H. B. 769 - 2 - ## 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 769 would raise the annual local salary supplement paid to Gwinnett Judicial Circuit superior court judges to $80,200, funded by Gwinnett County, but only if a separate statewide law banning such supplements does not pass this session. ### Plain-language summary Since 1960, Georgia law has allowed Gwinnett County to supplement the state-paid salaries of Gwinnett Judicial Circuit superior court judges, with the amount last updated in 2014. This bill rewrites that provision to set the annual supplement at $80,200, paid monthly from county funds, and it keeps in place the county's ability to add further amounts on top of that supplement at its own discretion. The bill includes a contingency: it would take effect July 1, 2025, but only if the General Assembly does not separately pass a law this session banning local salary supplements for superior court judges statewide. If that statewide ban is enacted, this bill would never take effect and would automatically repeal itself on July 1, 2025. ### What it does - Rewrites Section 2A of the 1960 Act creating the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit to set the judges' annual county-paid salary supplement at $80,200. - Requires the supplement to be paid in equal monthly installments from Gwinnett County funds. - Keeps Gwinnett County's authority to pay superior court judges additional amounts beyond the set supplement, at the county governing authority's discretion. - Makes the bill's effective date of July 1, 2025 contingent on a separate statewide bill banning local judicial salary supplements not being enacted this session. - Automatically repeals the bill on July 1, 2025 if that separate statewide ban does pass. ### Who it affects Superior court judges of the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit, whose annual compensation would be affected, and Gwinnett County's government, which funds the supplement from county funds and retains discretion to add further pay. ### Why it matters The bill would raise the guaranteed local pay supplement for Gwinnett's superior court judges, affecting how much of their compensation comes from the county versus the state, but its fate depends entirely on whether lawmakers separately pass a statewide law banning such local supplements this session. ### Key provisions - Section 1 revises Section 2A of the 1960 Gwinnett Judicial Circuit Act to set the annual salary supplement at $80,200, paid monthly from Gwinnett County funds. - Section 1 also preserves the county governing authority's power to pay superior court judges additional amounts beyond the set supplement. - Section 2 sets a contingent effective date of July 1, 2025, tied to whether a separate statewide bill banning local judicial salary supplements passes in the 2025 session. - Section 2 provides for automatic repeal of this Act on July 1, 2025 if that separate statewide bill is enacted. - Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws. ## Status - Status: Passed (2025-05-13) - Last action: Act 221 (2025-05-13) - Sponsors: Matt Reeves, Chuck Efstration, Soo Hong, Jasmine Clark, Billy Mitchell, Samuel Park - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71349 > The history, votes, and amendments (858 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb769.md?full=1