--- title: SB 613. Superior Court of Clayton County; change the compensation of the sheriff collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb613 cite_as: SB 613, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb613 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb613.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb613/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73789 date: 2026-05-12 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/sb612.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb614.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 1089 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb613.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 613 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: bill status_date: 2026-05-12 last_action: Act 702 sponsors: - Gail Davenport - Kenya Wicks - Elena Parent - Yasmin Neal text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB613/2025 upstream_id: 2128667 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - Clayton County government - sheriff salary - local government audits - county officials pay --- # SB 613. Superior Court of Clayton County; change the compensation of the sheriff ## Text Senate Bill 613 By: Senators Davenport of the 17th, Wicks of the 34th and Parent of the 44th AS PASSED A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act placing the sheriff and clerk of the Superior Court of Clayton County on an annual salary, approved February 25, 1949 (Ga. L. 1949, p. 1910), as amended, particularly by an Act approved May 3, 2018 (Ga. L. 2018, p. 3573), so as to change the compensation of the sheriff; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. An Act placing the sheriff and clerk of the Superior Court of Clayton County on an annual salary, approved February 25, 1949 (Ga. L. 1949, p. 1910), as amended, particularly by an Act approved May 3, 2018 (Ga. L. 2018, p. 3573), is amended by revising subsection (b) of Section 1 as follows: "(b) The sheriff of Clayton County shall be paid $185,000.00 per year in equal monthly installments from the funds of Clayton County." SECTION 2. This Act shall become effective on the first day of the month following the month in which the Sheriff of Clayton County fully complies with the county-wide audits of Clayton County for years 2024, 2025, and 2026 required pursuant to subsection (c.1) of Code Section 36-81-7. 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. A Senate bill would raise the salary of the Clayton County sheriff to $185,000 a year, but the pay raise would not take effect until the sheriff fully complies with required county-wide financial audits for 2024 through 2026. ### Plain-language summary This bill amends a 1949 local law that sets the salary of the sheriff and clerk of the Superior Court of Clayton County. It rewrites the section covering the sheriff's pay, setting it at $185,000 per year, paid in equal monthly installments from Clayton County funds. Unlike most local salary bills, this one has a condition attached to its start date. The new pay rate does not begin right away. Instead, it takes effect on the first day of the month after the sheriff fully complies with the county-wide financial audits Clayton County is required to complete for 2024, 2025, and 2026 under Georgia's local government audit law (O.C.G.A. § 36-81-7). The bill also repeals any conflicting laws, which is a standard clean-up provision in local legislation like this. ### What it does - Rewrites subsection (b) of the 1949 Clayton County salary Act to set the sheriff's annual salary at $185,000, paid monthly from county funds. - Ties the effective date of the raise to the sheriff fully complying with county-wide audits required for 2024, 2025, and 2026 under O.C.G.A. § 36-81-7. - Delays the pay increase until the first day of the month after that audit compliance happens, rather than a fixed calendar date. - Repeals any prior laws that conflict with this new salary provision. ### Who it affects This bill directly affects the Sheriff of Clayton County, whose salary it sets, and Clayton County government, which pays that salary from county funds. It also indirectly involves county auditors and officials responsible for completing the county-wide audits required by state law. ### Why it matters The sheriff's pay increase to $185,000 a year would not happen automatically. It depends on the sheriff's office fully complying with three years of required county audits, linking a raise in local government compensation to accountability over Clayton County's financial reporting. ### Key provisions - Section 1 amends the 1949 Clayton County salary Act, setting the sheriff's pay at $185,000.00 per year in equal monthly installments from county funds. - Section 2 sets an unusual conditional effective date: the law starts on the first day of the month after the sheriff fully complies with the county-wide audits required for 2024, 2025, and 2026 under O.C.G.A. § 36-81-7(c.1). - Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard provision clearing away inconsistent prior statutes. ## Status - Status: Passed (2026-05-12) - Last action: Act 702 (2026-05-12) - Sponsors: Gail Davenport, Kenya Wicks, Elena Parent, Yasmin Neal - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73789 > The history, votes, and amendments (1,089 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb613.md?full=1