HB 900: Employees' Retirement System; any member shall be eligible to transfer funds to Judicial Retirement System; provide

Currently, Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 47-23-64) lets only superior court judges, state court judges, solicitors-general, and district attorneys who were previously in the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia move their contributions over to the Georgia Judicial Retirement System when they take a judicial branch job. This bill would widen that option to any member of the Judicial Retirement System, dropping the job-title restriction. The bill also updates the notification deadline: instead of December 31, 2002, members would have until December 31, 2026, or within 90 days of joining the Judicial Retirement System or entering a covered position, whichever is later, to tell both retirement systems' boards of trustees they want to transfer funds. The change would only take effect July 1, 2026, and only if state actuaries certify it is 'concurrently funded' under Georgia's Public Retirement Systems Standards Law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 20 of Title 47). If that funding certification does not happen, the bill automatically repeals itself on that same date.

• Expands eligibility to transfer retirement contributions from the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia to the Georgia Judicial Retirement System, from only superior court judges, state court judges, solicitors-general, and district attorneys to any member of the Judicial Retirement System.
• Updates the notification deadline for requesting a transfer from December 31, 2002 to December 31, 2026, or 90 days after joining the Judicial Retirement System, whichever is later.
• Adds a new option letting the 90-day notification window run from when a member enters service in a covered position, not just from when they first become a member.
• Makes the entire Act's effective date conditional on a state funding certification, automatically repealing the Act on July 1, 2026 if that certification is not obtained.

Members of the Georgia Judicial Retirement System, including judges and other covered judicial branch employees who previously worked in state government jobs covered by the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia, and the boards of trustees of both retirement systems, which must process transfer notifications.

People moving into judicial branch jobs from other state positions would gain a broader, clearer path to consolidate their retirement contributions into one system rather than leaving funds split between two systems, potentially affecting their eventual retirement benefits and service credit.

• Section 1 revises paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of O.C.G.A. § 47-23-64, removing the specific job titles (superior court judge, state court judge, solicitor-general, district attorney) and replacing them with 'member of this retirement system.'
• Section 1 changes the notification deadline from December 31, 2002 to December 31, 2026, and adds a new 90-day window starting from entering service in a covered position.
• Section 2 ties the law's effective date to a July 1, 2026 concurrent funding certification under the Public Retirement Systems Standards Law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 20 of Title 47); without certification, the Act is automatically repealed that same date.
• 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)

• public employee retirement
• judicial retirement system
• state pension transfers
• government employee benefits