HB1020 Vote Explainer: DA Compensation Reform Act

Quick Take

HB 1020 modernizes how Georgia compensates district attorneys by increasing state funding for prosecutors, raising minimum salaries for assistant district attorneys, and reducing reliance on uneven county salary supplements. Although the Senate made changes that caused many Democrats to oppose the final version, I ultimately voted YES because those changes largely effected metro Atlanta DAs and not those in District 121.

Why It Matters

Every Georgian deserves a criminal justice system that can recruit and retain qualified prosecutors, regardless of whether they live in a wealthy or rural judicial circuit. Historically, district attorney compensation has depended on a patchwork of local salary supplements, meaning prosecutors in some circuits received substantially different compensation than those doing the same job elsewhere.

The Western Judicial Circuit, serving Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties has struggled in recent years to find quality prosecutors, and DA Yalamanchili personally asked me to support this reform.

Key Facts

HB 1020:

• Raises the state-funded compensation structure for district attorneys.  
• Allows current district attorneys to choose whether to remain under the existing compensation system or permanently opt into the new one, ensuring no sitting district attorney experiences a pay cut during their current term.  
• Replaces most county salary supplements with a capped “locality pay” system for future district attorneys while allowing counties to continue providing fringe benefits.  
• Significantly increases the minimum salaries for assistant district attorneys, improving recruitment and retention across Georgia.  
• Temporarily suspends local laws that automatically tie other public officials’ salaries to district attorney compensation, preventing unintended automatic salary increases across local government. Judges are treated separately, with that suspension ending after one year.  
• Updates retirement provisions for district attorneys entering the judicial retirement system after July 1, 2026.

My Perspective

The version of HB 1020 that originally passed the House unanimously was much narrower, dealing primarily with retirement benefits for district attorneys. The Senate later expanded it into a comprehensive district attorney compensation reform bill.

Those changes caused many Democrats to oppose the final version. One concern was that moving away from existing county salary supplements could make it more difficult for some of Georgia’s largest judicial circuits, particularly those in metro Atlanta, to compete for experienced prosecutors since those offices have historically relied on larger locally funded supplements to recruit and retain attorneys.

I understood those concerns, but after reviewing the final bill, I concluded that its benefits outweighed its drawbacks for Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties.

Georgia should take greater responsibility for funding core criminal justice functions instead of relying so heavily on local governments. I was also persuaded by the significant increases in minimum salaries for assistant district attorneys, which should help every judicial circuit attract and keep talented prosecutors. We have seen the Western Judicial Circuit here in Clarke & Oconee struggle to hire quality prosecutors in recent years because of this.

While I understood why many of my Democratic colleagues reached a different conclusion, I believed the overall reforms represented a net improvement and voted YES.