No reforms, no pay hikes

Through a clever twist in this year’s state budget, New York’s legislators stand to get their first pay raise in two decades without having to vote on it. It should only happen if there’s an ironclad commitment to reforms.

Until this year, legislators had to approve their own salary increase, and it would need the governor’s signature to become law. But language in this year’s $168 billion budget created the New York State Compensation Committee to consider pay raises for lawmakers, statewide elected officials (except the governor) and the leaders of state agencies. The commission, established in April, didn’t meet until last week, and it now has only until Dec. 10 to make its decision. It won’t need Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature to take effect; in fact, only if the Legislature convenes a special session and rejects it — a highly unlikely prospect — the commission’s plan will take effect on Jan. 1.

Under the law, the pay commission — four men who are the past and present state and New York City comptrollers — can build conditions into its decision. Already baked into the process is one pretty substantial condition: that the legislature adopt a state budget in a “timely” way. But the law fails to define what “timely” means, which could throw that and any other conditions to the courts — a reason Chief Judge Janet Difiore recused herself from being the fifth member of the commission.

But there ought to be more to the deal. There’s nothing new about this: In 1998, to get then-gov. George Pataki’s signature on a 38 percent raise, legislators had to approve his controversial charter schools plan. Now a deal could yield long overdue ethics reforms, especially in a year when two former legislative leaders are heading to prison after being convicted of corruption charges and two top Cuomo administration officials await sentencing, one for bid rigging and the other for accepting bribes.

The pay commission must set the bar high by building in rigid and measurable requirements that have to be met before any increased pay for lawmakers kicks in. A firm timetable as well as a system to evaluate compliance is also necessary.

The first question: What should the pay increase be? Members of the Senate and the Assembly receive a base salary of $79,500, unchanged since 1999, but most get bonuses, known as “lulus,” ranging from $9,000 to $41,500. Most also claim per diem payments of $174 when they have to be in Albany.

In exchange for any pay raise, commissioners ought to set some tough terms, due and payable on the first day of the 2019 legislative session: If lawmakers receive a raise, the lulus should go, and there must be a phased-in ban on outside employment, giving lawmakers a two-year term to decide whether to give up outside jobs, which often have been the root of legislative corruption in the past, or to decline re-election. There also should be a clear timetable for adopting meaningful campaign finance reforms, especially lowering the contribution limits and ending the so-called LLC loophole, which allows individuals to skirt those limits.

If lawmakers vow to take all those steps in January, they will earn a pay raise. If not, they can just wait.