From the President

• Citation: Vol. 29 No. 4 Pg. 0006
• Publication year: 2024
• Pages: 0006
• Year: 2024

From the President Vol. 29 No. 4 Pg. 6 Georgia Bar Journal February 2024

HON. J. ANTONIO "TONY" DELCAMPO

President

State Bar of Georgia president@gabar.org

Competitive, Consistent Pay for Georgia Judges

I have always said that my favorite job was serving as a trial judge in the State Court of DeKalb County. But in 2011, I faced a pivotal decision for financial reasons. The stock market crash of a few years earlier had decimated my savings, and I no longer could fund my children's private school tuition on my judge's salary.

I had to make a difficult choice: leave a job that I loved or remove my children from the only school they had ever known. For me, that, ultimately, was an easy decision. I resigned from the bench and returned to private law practice, where I could make a significantly better living.

I am not the only judge in Georgia who has faced the difficult choice to leave the bench—far from it. Many jurists have left the bench for financial reasons, and the corollary to that is that many successful attorneys in our state, especially in the Atlanta area, do not become judges simply because we do not pay them well enough.

Hopefully, that will change in the near future. During the current session of the Georgia General Assembly, legislation that would reform our state's judicial compensation system in a comprehensive manner and significantly improve judicial salaries is under consideration. HB 947, sponsored by Rep. Rob Leverett (R-Elberton), an attorney, was approved overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives and as of Feb. 23 was under review in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

This legislative attention is certainly welcome and long overdue. A 2016 report found that Georgia's judicial compensation system was "riddled with anomalies and inconsistencies," and a December 2022 report found that many inconsistencies and disparities persist. Compared to other states, Georgia judicial salaries presently rank 32nd in the United States for Supreme Court justices, 23rd for Court of Appeals judges and 49th for the state-funded portion of compensation to Superior Court judges (ahead of only West Virginia).

It is worth noting that Georgia's entire judicial budget, as allocated for fiscal year 2024, accounts for only 0.6% of state government spending.

I serve on the Judicial Council of Georgia's Ad Hoc Committee on Judicial Salaries and Supplements. The Judicial Council, under the leadership of Presiding Justice Nels Peterson and Justice Charlie Bethel of the Supreme Court of Georgia, has been instrumental in working with Leverett and other legislative leaders on the proposal, which if it becomes law, would:

• Address the substantial and longstanding disparity in the compensation of Superior Court judges;

• Provide stability and predictability to the compensation of state-paid judges;

• Address the stagnation in judicial pay; and

• Account for differences in cost of living.

Under the reform model, Georgia's national salary rankings would improve to 15th for Supreme Court justices and...