Georgia senators hear evidence that prosecutor pay and staffing gaps hinder recruitment

The Georgia Senate committee reviewed proposals to raise district attorney pay and examined whether state and county funding produce consistent staffing nationwide. Chair Curtis opened discussion by asking whether assistant district attorneys' pay ranges — "starting at around $72,000 and up to about $135,000" — are sufficient to attract qualified lawyers, a point that solicitors and DA representatives said remains a challenge. "We have seen an increase in our resumes overall," Joe said, "but when you look at the starting salary from the University of Georgia ... it's obviously difficult."

Committee members explored how state-funded positions are allocated: "There's one assistant per superior court judge in your circuit," the chair said, and witnesses confirmed that formula is the baseline but that counties may supplement pay or hire additional prosecutors when they have the funds. Bill Finch, a county solicitor who testified, described state-vs.-county funding: "My prosecutors are paid for by the individual counties," he said, adding that his office's victim-witness program receives some state training funds.

Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorney's Council (PAC), told senators PAC is the fiscal agent for state-paid prosecutors and maintains resource and conflict prosecutors that can assist circuits. Skandalakis said the state currently employs roughly 429 state-paid assistant DAs for Georgia's population of about 11 million and described a staffing model PAC recommends: two assistant DAs per judge plus an investigator, a victim advocate and an administrative support person. "That model, if funded, would reduce bottlenecks," he said.

Senators noted differing pressures in rural and urban circuits: some rural circuits lack county resources to supplement pay, while large metro counties say a judge-based formula does not reflect local caseloads. The chair asked PAC to survey counties about county-funded assistant counts and asked counsel to collect budget samples across small, mid and large circuits.

Next steps: senators said they will use those data when drafting or amending the pending pay measure during the committee work session on Monday. The chair asked DA association leaders to provide written feedback and circuit-level budgets ahead of the next meeting.