One of the most unfortunate disagreements between the House and Senate in the waning days of the session has involved a desperately needed pay raises for state district and appellate judges and justices.
As it passed the House, HB 2779 raised the base pay for a state district judge from $140,000 to $172,494. Salaries of appellate justices are pegged to this amount, 110% for courts of appeals justices and 120% for justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals (the chief justices get an additional supplement). The Senate version does not include a base pay increase for district judges (and thus nothing for appellate justices either) but gives judges with 12 years of service and presiding judges of administrative regions a bump.
The last time judges got a raise occurred in 2019. Since that time, average inflation is running qt 4.25%. If judicial pay was indexed for inflation, the base pay would be $165,391 today. The House version thus calls for only a modest increase over inflation of about $7,000. If I am a successful lawyer in private practice with thoughts of a judicial career, these numbers are more than troubling: they’re an absolute discouragement. The House position is to bring the base salary above the inflation rate and then to index it in the future. This seems eminently reasonable to us simply to hold the line against further erosion.
Consequently, we have asked Governor Abbott to include a general judicial pay raise in the call for the expected special session. We simply cannot afford to let this go another two years. With the treasury absolutely awash in cash, we should certainly be able to spare a little loose change for the people who protect our liberties.
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