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House · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session

HB 770: Gwinnett Judicial Circuit; additional supplement for chief judge; provide

Last action June 1, 2025 · Effective Date

House Bill 770 would give the chief judge of the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit superior court an extra $10,000 a year in county-paid salary supplement, on top of existing pay.

Read the full bill text

These buttons carry the bill's own text, not the summaries below. Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the text as filed, then the summaries under a heading that names them as ours. View raw is the text alone.

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

This bill amends the 1960 law that created the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit, which covers Gwinnett County's superior court. It adds a new provision requiring Gwinnett County's governing authority (the county commission) to pay the chief judge of the superior court an additional $10,000 per year from county funds, split into 12 equal monthly payments. This new supplement is on top of whatever compensation the judge already receives from the state and any other county supplements already paid to superior court judges generally. The bill sets an effective date of June 1, 2025, and repeals any conflicting laws.

What the bill does

  • Adds a new section to the 1960 Gwinnett Judicial Circuit Act requiring Gwinnett County to pay the chief superior court judge a $10,000 annual supplement.
  • Requires the supplement to be paid in 12 equal monthly installments from county funds.
  • Specifies the new supplement is in addition to, not a replacement for, other county supplements already given to superior court judges.
  • Sets the law's effective date as June 1, 2025.
  • Repeals any existing laws that conflict with the new supplement requirement.

Who it affects

The chief judge of the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit superior court, who receives the added pay, and Gwinnett County's government, which must fund the supplement from county revenue. Other superior court judges in the circuit are indirectly referenced since their existing supplements remain unaffected.

Why it matters

The chief judge in Gwinnett County's superior court would receive a guaranteed pay increase funded by local taxpayers, distinguishing the chief judge's compensation from that of other judges on the circuit and adding a recurring cost to the county budget.

Key provisions

  • Section 1 adds new Section 2A.1 to the 1960 Gwinnett Judicial Circuit Act, creating the $10,000 annual chief judge supplement.
  • Section 1 requires the payment to be made in 12 equal monthly installments from Gwinnett County funds.
  • Section 1 clarifies the supplement is additional to any other county supplements already provided to superior court judges.
  • Section 2 sets the effective date as June 1, 2025.
  • Section 3 repeals conflicting laws.

From the bill

“The governing authority of Gwinnett County shall provide from county funds supplements to the compensation received from state funds for the chief judge of the superior court in the amount of $10,000.00 per year, to be paid in 12 equal monthly payments.”

This is the bill's core requirement establishing the new $10,000 annual pay supplement for the chief judge.

Discussed in meetings (1)

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.

  1. Senate Rules Committee, March 30, 2026

    From 1:09:49 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: A member initially named HB 770 during calendar selections. The exchange was unclear, but the chair ultimately recorded HB 77 instead. No provisions of HB 770 were discussed, and it was absent from the final calendar.

Status timeline

  1. 2025-06-01Effective Date
  2. 2025-05-13Act 222
  3. 2025-05-13House Date Signed by Governor (House)
  4. 2025-04-09House Sent to Governor (House)
  5. 2025-04-02Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
  6. 2025-04-02Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
  7. 2025-03-25Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
  8. 2025-03-21House Passed/Adopted (House)
Show full history (13 actions)
  1. 2025-03-21House Third Readers (House)
  2. 2025-03-21House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
  3. 2025-03-20House Second Readers (House)
  4. 2025-03-18House First Readers (House)
  5. 2025-03-13House Hopper (House)

Sponsors

  • Matt Reeves (R, HD-99)Primary sponsor
  • Chuck Efstration (R, HD-104)
  • Soo Hong (R, HD-103)
  • Jasmine Clark (D, HD-108)
  • Arlene Beckles (D, HD-96)
  • Segun Adeyina (D, HD-110)

Votes

  1. PassedHouse voteMarch 21, 2025

    158 yea, 0 nay (9 not voting, 13 excused)

    Local Calendar: House Vote #293

  2. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2025

    55 yea, 1 nay

    SUPPLEMENTAL LOCAL CONSENT CALENDAR: Senate Vote #400

Topics

  • judicial pay
  • Gwinnett County
  • superior court
  • local government funding

Ask about this bill

Answers come from this document. Not legal advice.

Machine-readable https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb770.md · https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md · MCP https://mcp.georgiacommons.org/mcp

HB770: Gwinnett Judicial Circuit; additional supplement for chief judge; provide | Georgia Commons