NY state lawmakers to vote on bill raising their pay by $32K – Times Herald-Record
State lawmakers are expected to vote Thursday on a proposed $32,000 pay raise that would make them the highest-paid state lawmakers in the nation.
The bills, which were filed late Monday night, would raise the annual salary for state senators and Assembly members to $142,000 from the current $110,000, which has been their salary since the beginning of 2019. Before that, they made $79,500 annually.
But the proposal was not finding support among legislators in the region, at least among those who responded to an inquiry Tuesday.
State Sen. Mike Martucci, a Republican from Wawayanda in Orange County, said first and foremost, the process by which the legislation came to be was wrong.
“It should have been discussed in session, and voted on before Election Day,” Martucci said. “That’s disrespectful to the taxpayers. Now (if it passes) they’re not going to be held accountable by anyone for some time.”
If the pay raise passes, Martucci will not be among those collecting it. He abandoned his reelection campaign plans after redistricting threw him into the same district as his friend, state Sen. James Skoufis, a Democrat from Cornwall, also in Orange County.
On Tuesday, Skoufis said he also opposed the raise.
“Too many of my constituents are struggling in this economy to justify a legislative pay raise,” Skoufis said in a statement. “I will be casting a ‘no’ vote on Thursday.”
Assemblyman Karl Brabenec, a Republican, also from Orange County, also denounced the proposed raise.
“In the middle of a recession, and with an incompetent government at the helm, I couldn’t think of a worse way to spend taxpayer dollars than giving state legislators a pay raise,” Brabenec said. “It’s a disgraceful move to return for a special session just to vote for a legislative pay raise rather than deal with the pressing issues the people of New York need us to fix.”
Brabenec cited economic development, tax reform, mandate relief and public safety as being among those issues.
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Added Colin Schmitt, a Republican assemblyman from New Windsor, “To sneak a vote in to make New York state legislators the highest paid in the nation during a period of economic turmoil for so many New Yorkers is unacceptable.”
Mike Lawler, a Republican assemblyman and Congressman-elect from Pearl River, called it an “absurd effort” that should be discussed in the next session, “not in a last-minute special session before Christmas.”
And Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, a Democrat from Sullivan County, said she is also not in favor of the pay raise
The raise would go into effect on Jan. 1. State lawmakers, who are considered part-time employees, are paid in 26 biweekly installments.
In addition to the raise, the legislation would cap the amount of outside income lawmakers earn at $35,000, which is equal to the amount state and local government retirees can earn while also collecting a state pension.
That provision would not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2025.
According to the text of the legislation, outside income does not include things like earnings in the National Guard or military reserves; copyright royalties and similar forms of intellectual property rights; income from state retirement plans, private pensions or similar plans; income from investment and capital gains; and income from a trade or business in which a family member holds a controlling interest.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, the Poughkeepsie Journal and the Journal News-lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.