ALBANY — Lawmakers are eyeing an early return to the State Capitol next week to give themselves a pay raise and potentially limit their outside income, according to sources close to the discussions.
State senators and Assembly members currently earn a base salary of $110,000 and want to boost that number to $130,000 during a special legislative session before the year is out.
The Democrat-led Legislature would have to approve the increases before the end of December for it to take effect when lawmakers return to Albany next month.
One sticking point, sources said, was how or whether to limit outside income for lawmakers, who also receive a $183 per diem when staying overnight in Albany during the January-to-June legislative session.
Some members also receive stipends for leadership positions.
The renewed push comes a month after the state’s top court upheld the legality of a controversial commission that recommended legislators’ pay be increased from $79,500 in phases to $130,000 back in 2018.
Lawmakers’ salaries went up to the current compensation of $110,000-a-year, but subsequent raises planned for 2020 and 2021 were blocked by the courts following several lawsuits.
The commission, which backed raises for statewide offices including the governor and attorney general, also recommended limiting outside income for lawmakers.
Based on a congressional model, the panel proposed capping outside income at 15% of lawmakers’ legislative pay. Certain jobs where someone is representing clients, such as real estate or legal work, would have been barred all together.
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Gov. Hochul, who voiced support for the potential salary increase last week, said limiting outside income would be the prudent thing to do.
“That seems to be if you’re having a pay increase, that that would be something I would think, in the interest of transparency and accountability, that people would expect,” the governor said during a press conference at the State Capitol.
She added that Legislative leaders have not yet indicated to her office whether or not they will call the special session and she declined to say if she would push lawmakers to address any other issues if they convene.
“We’ve not put together other issues we want to talk about,” Hochul said. “I guarantee the nature of that would be a very short session. This may or may not be the place to bring in larger issues, so that is to be determined.”
Looking ahead to the next legislative session and budget proposals, Hochul said she’s not interested in raising taxes despite economic uncertainty that could limit the state’s revenue.
“I don’t believe that raising taxes in a time in which we just cut taxes makes sense,” the governor said. “We just did that a year ago. I’m not going to turn around and say we’re raising your taxes. I don’t foresee that.”
Outgoing budget director Robert Mujica said the governor’s spending proposal, due to be released next month, will reflect the need to prepare for all possibilities after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest level in 15 years in an effort to slow inflation.
“The outlook is extraordinarily challenging,” Mujica said. “We’re seeing most consensus economic forecasters predicting an economic downturn which is driven by the actions of the federal government.”
