---
type: "Bill"
title: "Superior Court Judicial Compensation Reform Act; enact"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 6 of Title 15 the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions concerning superior courts, so as to modify provisions regarding the compensation received by superior court judges; to amend Code Section 45-7-4 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to annual salaries of certain state officials and cost-of-living adjustments, so as to revise provisions relating to calculating and setting the salaries of superior court judges; to provide a definition; to amend Chapter 3 of Title 1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to laws and statutes, so as to suspend the operation of local laws or local ordinances or resolutions that use a superior court judge's salary for the calculation of the salary or compensation of other officers, officials, or employees; to provide a short title; to provide for an effective date; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "HB 85"
citation: "Georgia HB 85 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["COURTS", "GENERAL PROVISIONS", "OCGA", "PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chuck Efstration", "James Burchett", "Matt Reeves", "Rob Leverett", "Soo Hong", "Stan Gunter"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 15
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2025-01-16"
last_action: "2025-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/31d6bb88-069f-468e-a1cd-679263e47dc3"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "9916219dca109653a3bf1ee42866e659219495a6b084515e3ae3fbd0d5ee5370"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ga"]
---

# Georgia HB 85 (2025_26) — Superior Court Judicial Compensation Reform Act; enact

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 6 of Title 15 the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions concerning superior courts, so as to modify provisions regarding the compensation received by superior court judges; to amend Code Section 45-7-4 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to annual salaries of certain state officials and cost-of-living adjustments, so as to revise provisions relating to calculating and setting the salaries of superior court judges; to provide a definition; to amend Chapter 3 of Title 1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to laws and statutes, so as to suspend the operation of local laws or local ordinances or resolutions that use a superior court judge's salary for the calculation of the salary or compensation of other officers, officials, or employees; to provide a short title; to provide for an effective date; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HB 85/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/238065.pdf)
2. **LC 47 3176/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/230101.pdf)
3. **LC 47 3366S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/233256.pdf)
4. **LC 47 3366S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/232172.pdf)
5. **Sen Floor Amend 1 AM 47 0148** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/237967.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #317 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **18–33** (fail) · upper
- House Vote #51 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **163–7** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #318 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **51–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Chuck Efstration — primary (person)
- James Burchett — primary (person)
- Matt Reeves — primary (person)
- Rob Leverett — primary (person)
- Soo Hong — primary (person)
- Stan Gunter — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2025-01-16** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-01-17** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-01-27** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-02-12** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-02-20** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2025-02-20** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2025-02-21** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-20** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-21** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2025-03-28** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2025-03-28** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-04-09** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-12** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-12** Act 112 `executive-signature`
- **2025-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/31d6bb88-069f-468e-a1cd-679263e47dc3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).