Kemp would be tied for nation’s highest paid governor under salary hike bill

Brian Kemp would be tied for the highest paid governor in the nation under a bill that passed the state Senate on Thursday.

The governor’s pay would rise from about $182,000 annually to $250,000 — a 37% hike. That means the two-term Republican would earn the same amount as New York’s Kathy Hochul, who is paid more than any other governor in the nation, according to The Associated Press.

The bill would also increase the pay for other top Georgia officials, including Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who would see his salary more than double to $200,000.

Jones, who presides over the Senate and is considering a run for governor next year, said Thursday he would donate any raise he received to charity and encouraged other officials to do the same.

Supporters said the raises are overdue, given salaries in the private sector and even among other elected officials across the state.

“Even with this raise, compared to the private marketplace, they would be radically underpaid,” said Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell.

The proposed raises were attached to House Bill 86, which would change the pay structure of judges for the Georgia Supreme Court, the state Court of Appeals and other statewide judges. Currently, the salary for each court’s judges is spelled out in state law. Supreme Court judges, for example, earn a starting salary of $175,600 a year.

HB 86 would tie statewide judges’ pay to the salaries of federal judges in the northern district of Georgia and state Supreme Court judges’ pay would rise to about $243,000. Other statewide judges also would see pay hikes.

The amended bill passed 45-10. It now returns to the House for further consideration.

If the bill passes the General Assembly, legislators must still include the raises in their 2026 budget. The proposed Senate budget released Thursday includes about $486,000 in raises for state Supreme Court justices and $785,000 for Court of Appeals raises. They would take effect Jan. 1 under the Senate budget.

A separate bill, House Bill 85, would tie superior court judges’ pay to that of federal judges. The Senate budget includes $9.6 million for those raises, which also would take effect in January.

On Thursday, a bipartisan group of senators proposed an amendment that would create a new salary structure for the state’s top elected officials. The governor’s starting pay would rise from $175,000 to $250,000. Kemp earned about $182,000 last year, including raises he has received since taking office, according to state salary data.

Under the Senate bill, other statewide elected officials would make 80% of the governor’s starting pay, or $200,000. That includes the lieutenant governor, agricultural commission, attorney general, insurance commissioner, labor commissioner, state school superintendent, secretary of state and speaker of the House.

The 2024 salaries of the other elected officials range from about $126,000 (Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger) to $146,000 (Attorney General Chris Carr).

No one spoke against the raises. But some senators expressed a desire to raise salaries for legislators as well as the other elected officials.

A spokesperson for Kemp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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