Pa. lawmakers’ salaries to rise by nearly $5,000
The largest increase in quarter of a century
Pennsylvania lawmakers will see a record bump in their paychecks starting Wednesday.
That’s when the automatic pay raise kicks in. It will boost the monthly pay of the state’s rankand-file lawmakers to around $7,950. That pushes their yearly salary to $95,432, up from the $90,335 that it has been for this year and last.
Lawmakers who hold elected caucus leadership posts will earn more. Their salaries will range from $108,819 for the House and Senate minority and majority caucus administrators up through $148,976 for House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster County, and
Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre County.
A 1995 state law automatically ties legislators, judges and top executive branch officials, including the governor’s pay, to the annual change in the U.S. Department of Labor-determined Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers for Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. The pay raise for executive and judicial branch officials takes effect on Jan. 1, while the legislature’s 2022 pay hike begins Wednesday.
If there is no change or a negative change in the cost of living occurs, their pay remains the same. Since the law’s enactment, only three times have they not received a pay raise. That was in 2010, 2016, and this year.
But unlike the earlier two years when their pay remained stagnant due to negative changes in the CPI, this year’s freeze was by choice. Lawmakers passed a law in 2020 to skip the automatic pay raise for this year in recognition of the financial difficulties many Pennsylvanians were facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rep. Frank Ryan, R-Lebanon County, was the author of that pay freeze law. He tried to repeat that successful effort again this year only to have his legislation pass the House State Government Committee by a 25-0 vote in March and then stall out, allowing the inflationary increase to take effect.
“The inflation regulated pay increase will impact the state funded salaries of more than 1,300 people across all three branches of government,” said House Speaker Bryan
Cutler, R-Lancaster County, in an emailed response. “I do not tell any member of our chamber how they should treat any dollar they earn as part of their public service, as each of us comes from different personal situations.”
Cutler said the 1995 law was established as an alternative to voting on pay increases, “which I have consistently opposed.” He has told LNP in the past that he donates his raises to charities in his district.
Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa is among those who plan to accept the cost of living increase after voting in 2020 to decline a raise for this year, said his spokeswoman Brittany Crampsie. He is allowing members of his caucus to make their own decisions about whether to accept it.
Not all lawmakers are.
Rep. Patty Kim, D-Harrisburg, said she has campaigned against the automatic pay raises. She only accepts the $83,800 salary that rank-and-file lawmakers were paid when she was first elected to the House. She returns the remainder every year to the state Treasury.
Reps. Greg Rothman, R-Cumberland County, and Ryan, who authored the pay freeze law last year, said they plan to turn down the increase as well. Both have written out checks to pay back the nearly $5,000 pay hike to Treasury. Both consider the raise inappropriate for differing reasons.
Rothman has declined the automatic pay raises in the years between elections since he was first elected in 2015. He said he feels the salary that comes with the office when he stands for election is the salary he should take.