Lawmakers Get Another Pay Raise
The annual automatic pay raise for lawmakers kicks in Dec. 1 just in time for the happy holiday season.
Lawmakers Get Another Pay Raise
John Baer, Daily News Political Columnist
It's that time of the year again.
Your 253 state lawmakers, members of the largest full-time Legislature in America, are about to collect yet another annual automatic pay raise pushing their base salary up 2.2% to $83,802.
Full details are provided in a Tuesday Harrisburg Patriot-News account.
This in a state where median household income is $50,398 -- which is below the national average, according to current U.S. Census data.
And, of course, it comes on top of generous health care and pension benefits, tax-free per diem payments and many other perks.
Lawmakers might want to send a little thank-you note to former Gov. Tom Ridge who, after saying as a candidate he'd oppose a legislative pay hike, signed a bill his first year in office (1995) granting a raise and installing the annual automatic boost.
One nice little touch to the law is that the annual raise is based on the Consumer Price Index for Philly, which is always the highest in the state. It's about the only time the Legislature as a body is grateful for Philadelphia.
As a result, the increase is more than millions of Pennsylvanians on Social Security will be getting. Their increase for 2013 is 1.7 percent.
The new pay scale also applies to the state's more than 1,000 judges and kicks in Dec. 1.
In fairness, there are lawmakes who return the raise to the state treasury or donate it to charity but it still counts towards their pension benefit and, in the case of donations, offers tax breaks.
Gov. Corbett, he of fiscal responsibility, doesn't take the raise. His salary will remain at $174,914 -- which is the same as when he took office in January 2011. His cabinet officers don't take the raise either.
The irony here is that lawmakers increasingly seek to tie state spending, teacher salaries and more to things such as "performance" and "accountability."
If such standards were applied to lawmakers, many if not most would owe us money. And since economic forecasters predict private-sector workers' pay is certain to remain stagnant, a lot of us could use it.
Oh, by the way, GRRRRR!
Great for a part time job.— rugbyjt- There is simply no sense of decency in this legislative body. Not "getting it" is one thing; abusing their office by constant unwarranted pay and benefits increases is another. Shameon them!— steveh
- unbelievable— write me in
- It's really hard to get new members in this legislature due to redistricting and voter apathy. Until this changes we'll be stuck with people that take advantage of us.— meteo30
- This comment has been deleted.— sharkmeat
- The pay raise is an abomination, but both parties share the blame. Rendell signed this automatic pay raise into law in 2005. — jfar86
- Rendell may be pink slime or worse but it was Gov. Tom Ridge, a conservative repubelican, who, after saying as a candidate he'd oppose a legislative pay hike, signed a bill his first year in office (1995) granting a raise and installing the annual automatic boost.
— nebulus - No Steveh, the shame is on us for not kicking this entire bunch of leeches out of our Statehouse. We refuse to act in our own interests, so we get what we deserve. Two things are immediately wrong here; no pay and benefit increases should be granted in perpetuity and the CPI used should be for the entire state. To tie anything for this band of thieves to costs in Phila alone is blatant in your face stealing.— Getinline
- Amazing..we should have a voter referendum to stop this freebie give out to these worthless parasites. Just like the sleaze balls in Philadelphia's Council, they get raises .5 higher than the Federal CPI and base it on ..what? Some political number crunchers who find the highest costs and who allow this thievery to continue by their collusion with this pack of elected bandits.. Let's demand a vote of the citizens on this back door, guaranteed pay raise every year to these "Animal Farm" leaders and put an end to it forever...— oblekr
- Disgusting!!!— thepaguy
- And next week they will take up cutting state workers' pensions, and continue to b**ch about the teachers unions.— carl and sons
- There is one way to stop this , some states (Texas) have the state legislators meet once every two years.It won't happen of course too many pigs at the trough unwilling to give up their sweetheart part time jobs.The people of this state deserve better than these bloodsuckers.— Jim Morris
- VIVA LA REVOLUTION!!!!!!!!— WCJRJR
- @sharkmeat: You took the words right out of my mouth. Where is the indignation from the whiney repubs who, when they see a crime being committed by a, uh, black person, they immediately call him an Obama voter. But, when our overpaid, underperforming legislature (both sides of the aisle) take more money from us, they're nowhere to be found... Uh-huh.— PotteryPete
John is the author of the book "On The Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics: Twenty-Five Years of Keystone Reporting" (The History Press, 2012). Reach John at baerj@phillynews.com.
