NY Legislators have decided to give themselves a 29% pay raise. Why can they commit this outrageous act? Because they can. Government doesn't care what the public thinks. Incumbents get re-elected 90+% of the time.
New York state legislators have some nerve. As we write, they are reported to be heading back to Albany for a special session called for just one purpose: to raise their own pay a whopping 29%, from $110,000 to $142,000 a year, beginning Jan. 1. That would make them the highest-paid legislators in the country.
It’s outrageous.
The proposed raise is more than four times the current rate of inflation. It also comes on top of a 2019 pay bump of 38%, from $79,500 to $110,000, recommended by an independent commission in 2018.
New York lawmakers are weighing a ban on outside income as they discuss potentially increasing their salary in a special session of the Legislature.
A source on Tuesday confirmed a special session of the Legislature could be held next week, with legislative pay reaching $130,000. New York lawmakers currently earn $110,000.
Talks over having lawmakers return to Albany remain fluid and nothing has been agreed to as of Tuesday evening. Gov. Kathy Hochul last week indicated she would support a legislative pay raise.
A longtime sticking point in discussions surrounding legislative pay increases has been the income lawmakers earn outside of their jobs as elected officials. Many lawmakers also work for law firms, or receive income as the owners of businesses.
The NY Legislature will now have the highest salary in the country. Do they deserve it?
