Just in time for Christmas, New York legislators returned to the state capital Thursday to give themselves a nice holiday gift: a pay raise that would make them the nation’s best-paid state lawmakers.
Members
of the state Assembly and Senate would make a base salary of $142,000
under a bill they passed during a special session, a 29% raise over
their salary of $110,000.
That would send them
racing ahead of state lawmakers in California, who are now the nation’s
best-paid legislators with a yearly base pay of about $119,000,
according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
New York’s lawmakers, however, would also face restrictions for the first time on how much they can make from other jobs.
Outside
income would be capped at $35,000, starting in 2025. Pay in excess of
that from military service, retirement plans or investments would still
be allowed.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea
Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat, said legislators work hard, year round, and
deserved a raise to cover the increased cost of living.
“It’s a full time job,” she said. “Sooner or later in order to be able to afford to do the job, we have to raise pay.”
Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt said he found the raise “patently offensive to the people we represent.”
“Albany’s One Party Ruling Class continues to put their own misplaced priorities first,” Ortt said in a statement.
Gov.
Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has said she supports the idea of a raise for
the Legislature, but hasn’t said whether she would sign the bill. Email
and text messages left for the governor’s office weren’t immediately
returned.
Some government transparency and
watchdog groups said after the bill was introduced late Monday that it
doesn’t do enough for regulating outside income.
“The
public really deserves to know that their elected officials are working
just for them and they don’t have any other interests in mind,” said
Rachael Fauss, a senior policy advisor at the government watchdog group
Reinvent Albany.
7 comments:
I will continue to vote for Democrats. The city/state is doing great under their leadership!
It's crazy when you realize we live in a time where you would be better informed if you didn't listen to any news then if you listen to the legacy news.
We need to roll back the state.
The Cathedral is real, and it has all the power.
What Is It With These Privileged Yet Incredibly Angry Leftwing Party Hacks ?
It would be a fair paycheck if they weren’t getting so much extra from corporations.
Give the rich another tax cut. That should solve everything.
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