ATLANTA (Georgia Recorder) — House lawmakers quickly swatted down a Senate plan to give the governor and other statewide officials pay raises.
The Senate had added the salary bumps Thursday to a bill adjusting the pay of judges at higher levels in Georgia. Under the plan, Gov. Brian Kemp would have been tied with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for the highest earning governor in the country.
“You may have seen a little something about the amendment in the news over the last 24 hours,” the bill’s original sponsor, Elberton Republican Rep. Rob Leverett, said to his colleagues Friday.
“I think that is a discussion we as a body need to have at some point, but we shouldn’t have it as an amendment to a bill in the last two or three days of session,” Leverett said. “I believe it needs to be thought through a little more and it needs a little more study.”
Some senators also tried to increase lawmaker pay in another judicial pay bill focused on superior court judges.
Critics argued that the legislative pay amendment would sabotage a bill intended to create uniform statewide pay for Georgia Superior Court judges. The proposed pay raise amendment to House Bill 85 would have increased the salaries of the 236 General Assembly members from $24,341 to about $55,000.
Sen. Randal Mangham, a Stone Mountain Democrat, argued it would put Georgia lawmakers in line with the national average of $44,320 in 2024, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
He referenced the limited funding he receives for his staff.
“7,000 for an entire year with my budget for expenses to run the people’s business. It’s a $40 billion enterprise,” Mangham said, referring to the state budget.
Sen. John Kennedy, a Macon Republican, urged senators prior to voting to consider how passing the amendment would come across to the taxpayers.
“Colleagues, are you willing to look at your constituents in the eye and tell them you need more of their tax dollars in your pocket and out of their pocket?” Kennedy said.
The debate ended with the legislative pay amendments faltering decisively 33 to 18 before the superior court legislation passed with nearly unanimous support.
