Posted: | November 17, 2021 04:26 PM |
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From: | Representative Gerald J. Mullery and Rep. Mike Carroll |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Eliminating Automatic Pay Raises for the General Assembly and Other Elected Officials |
Are you guaranteed a raise every year? Unless you’re a member of the General Assembly, the answer is probably no. This year, each of the 253 members in the General Assembly could see their annual salary go up by more than $5,000, since legislative pay raises are tied to an annual cost of living adjustment (COLA). That’s on top of the current base pay rate for legislators: $90,335 annually, the third highest in the country. In the near future, I will be reintroducing legislation that will repeal automatic COLA raises in the Public Official Compensation Law of 1983. This will apply not just to members of the General Assembly, but also to judges throughout the Commonwealth, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor General, and agency heads in Pennsylvania’s executive branch. Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has not been increased since 2007 and overall wages have been flat for decades. Yet, the 253 members of the General Assembly, many of whom shaped the public policy that’s led to those stagnant wages, are guaranteed COLA increases. Please join me in supporting this important piece of legislation. |
Introduced as HB2122