diff --git a/ax/modelbridge/generation_strategy.py b/ax/modelbridge/generation_strategy.py
index b8ade5f2199..defb1ffc582 100644
--- a/ax/modelbridge/generation_strategy.py
+++ b/ax/modelbridge/generation_strategy.py
@@ -330,8 +330,6 @@ def _unset_non_persistent_state_fields(self) -> None:
         self._model = None
         for s in self._steps:
             s._model_spec_to_gen_from = None
-            # TODO: @mgarrard remove once re-enabled criterion storage
-            s._transition_criteria = []
 
     def __repr__(self) -> str:
         """String representation of this generation strategy."""
diff --git a/ax/service/tests/test_ax_client.py b/ax/service/tests/test_ax_client.py
index aa292139a1f..10440f2102e 100644
--- a/ax/service/tests/test_ax_client.py
+++ b/ax/service/tests/test_ax_client.py
@@ -614,7 +614,6 @@ def test_save_and_load_generation_strategy(self) -> None:
         )
         second_client = AxClient(db_settings=db_settings)
         second_client.load_experiment_from_database("unique_test_experiment")
-        generation_strategy._unset_non_persistent_state_fields()
         self.assertEqual(second_client.generation_strategy, generation_strategy)
 
     @patch(
diff --git a/ax/service/tests/test_scheduler.py b/ax/service/tests/test_scheduler.py
index 0657668d62e..8533294f986 100644
--- a/ax/service/tests/test_scheduler.py
+++ b/ax/service/tests/test_scheduler.py
@@ -777,7 +777,6 @@ def test_sqa_storage(self) -> None:
         # Check that experiment and GS were saved.
         exp, gs = scheduler._load_experiment_and_generation_strategy(experiment.name)
         self.assertEqual(exp, experiment)
-        self.two_sobol_steps_GS._unset_non_persistent_state_fields()
         self.assertEqual(gs, self.two_sobol_steps_GS)
         scheduler.run_all_trials()
         # Check that experiment and GS were saved and test reloading with reduced state.
diff --git a/ax/storage/json_store/decoder.py b/ax/storage/json_store/decoder.py
index dee34736a01..898248e96e6 100644
--- a/ax/storage/json_store/decoder.py
+++ b/ax/storage/json_store/decoder.py
@@ -732,11 +732,6 @@ def generation_step_from_json(
         if "should_deduplicate" in generation_step_json
         else False,
     )
-    generation_step._transition_criteria = transition_criteria_from_json(
-        generation_step_json.pop("transition_criteria")
-        if "transition_criteria" in generation_step_json.keys()
-        else None
-    )
     return generation_step
 
 
diff --git a/ax/storage/json_store/tests/test_json_store.py b/ax/storage/json_store/tests/test_json_store.py
index b6c5a78f950..a90d708a26f 100644
--- a/ax/storage/json_store/tests/test_json_store.py
+++ b/ax/storage/json_store/tests/test_json_store.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 
 import numpy as np
 import torch
-from ax.benchmark.benchmark_method import BenchmarkMethod
 from ax.core.metric import Metric
 from ax.core.runner import Runner
 from ax.exceptions.core import AxStorageWarning
@@ -328,8 +327,14 @@ def test_EncodeDecode(self) -> None:
                 converted_object = converted_object.state_dict()
             if isinstance(original_object, GenerationStrategy):
                 original_object._unset_non_persistent_state_fields()
-            if isinstance(original_object, BenchmarkMethod):
-                original_object.generation_strategy._unset_non_persistent_state_fields()
+                # for the test, completion criterion are set post init
+                # and therefore do not become transition critirion, unset
+                # for this specific test only
+                if "with_completion_criteria" in fake_func.keywords:
+                    for step in original_object._steps:
+                        step._transition_criteria = None
+                    for step in converted_object._steps:
+                        step._transition_criteria = None
             try:
                 self.assertEqual(
                     original_object,
@@ -402,7 +407,6 @@ def test_DecodeGenerationStrategy(self) -> None:
             decoder_registry=CORE_DECODER_REGISTRY,
             class_decoder_registry=CORE_CLASS_DECODER_REGISTRY,
         )
-        generation_strategy._unset_non_persistent_state_fields()
         self.assertEqual(generation_strategy, new_generation_strategy)
         self.assertGreater(len(new_generation_strategy._steps), 0)
         self.assertIsInstance(new_generation_strategy._steps[0].model, Models)
diff --git a/ax/storage/sqa_store/tests/test_sqa_store.py b/ax/storage/sqa_store/tests/test_sqa_store.py
index 17b4aa436ca..61e81e59ea0 100644
--- a/ax/storage/sqa_store/tests/test_sqa_store.py
+++ b/ax/storage/sqa_store/tests/test_sqa_store.py
@@ -1226,7 +1226,6 @@ def test_EncodeDecodeGenerationStrategy(self) -> None:
             # pyre-fixme[6]: For 1st param expected `int` but got `Optional[int]`.
             gs_id=generation_strategy._db_id
         )
-        generation_strategy._unset_non_persistent_state_fields()
         self.assertEqual(generation_strategy, new_generation_strategy)
         self.assertIsNone(generation_strategy._experiment)