What's happening
This bill ties New York State legislators' annual salaries to inflation, adjusting pay based on the Consumer Price Index starting in 2019.
Why it matters
Links lawmaker pay to inflation. By tying salaries to the Consumer Price Index, the bill ensures legislators' pay keeps pace with rising living costs, potentially making public service more accessible to people from diverse economic backgrounds.
Removes the need for frequent, politicized pay raises. Automatic adjustments reduce the need for contentious legislative votes on salary increases, which can be politically sensitive and prone to delays or manipulation.
Retroactively adjusts the salary baseline. The adjustment starts from 2019, recalculating pay based on inflation since 1999, which could lead to a significant immediate increase and set a new standard for future compensation.
Maintains budget accountability. The provision that withholds pay if the state budget isn’t passed on time remains intact, continuing to incentivize timely budget negotiations despite the new salary adjustment mechanism.
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Raise Lawmakers’ Salaries
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to governmental operations
- Referred to governmental operations
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Raise Lawmakers' Salaries
In Senate Committee · Investigations And Government Operations · Sponsor José Peralta
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5933
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 17, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the legislative law, in relation to compensation payable to members of the state legislature
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 5 of the legislative law, as amended by chapter 635 of the laws of 1998, is amended to read as follows:
1. Effective January first, [nineteen hundred ninety-nine] two thousand nineteen, each member of the legislature shall receive [a] an annual salary in an amount equal to the increase in the value of seventynine thousand five hundred dollars [per annum] between January first, nineteen hundred ninety-nine and December thirty-first, two thousand eighteen, based on the rate of inflation established by the consumer price index as calculated by the federal Department of Labor. Such salary of a member of the legislature shall be payable in twenty-six bi-weekly installments provided, however, that if legislative passage of the budget as defined in subdivision three of this section has not occurred prior to the first day of any fiscal year, the net amount of any such bi-weekly salary installment payments to be paid on or after such day shall be withheld and not paid until such legislative passage of the budget has occurred whereupon bi-weekly salary installment payments shall resume and an amount equal to the accrued, withheld and unpaid installments shall be promptly paid to each member.
For purposes of this section, net amount shall mean gross salary minus any or all of the following deductions: federal taxes, state taxes, social security taxes, city taxes, payments on retirement loans, retirement contributions, contributions to health insurance or other group insurance programs, child support and court ordered payments.
§ 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2019.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07436-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.