New York state lawmakers denied pay hike by commission

NEW YORK, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A special commission reviewing the salaries of state employees said Tuesday it will not give New York state legislators a pay raise unless they take action to prevent ethical lapses seen in the last several years and make the Legislature their only job.

Commissioners appointed to review the Legislature's salaries said that without an ethics overhaul and the banning of outside income, it will not approve the first pay raises for lawmakers in New York in 17 years.

New York State legislators are paid $79,500 per year for their service -- third highest in the nation -- a salary that has not changed since 1999. Legislators say the lack of a raise is unfair because they are only in Albany for about half the year and must maintain residences in their home districts, which for many means requiring outside income in order to afford their lives.

The legislators have been asking for an increase in salary equivalent to a 2.15 percent raise for each year their pay has not increased.

In the meantime, more than 30 state lawmakers have been forced out of office since 2000 over criminal or ethical allegations.

"You ask the people of this state, 'Do you think the New York state Legislature should get a pay raise?' [and] people overwhelmingly say no," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters on Tuesday, noting that legislators could simply vote themselves a pay raise -- calling out the fact that no lawmaker appeared at the commission's hearing to ask for a raise. "Let them stand up and say: 'We deserve a raise and I'm voting for a raise.'"

The commission is scheduled to possibly reconvene one more time before the end of the year and could force through ethics reforms along with a pay raise if all members of the commission, some of whom are appointed by the Legislature, agree to such an act.

If the commission does not reconvene before the end of this year, it will not gather again until 2019.

The Legislature itself also could vote on either a pay raise or to create a new commission to consider the question during its lame-duck session before the start of the new year.

Legislators say the governor is attempting to force their hand on ethics requirements by linking them to a pay raise, which they say should be based on the cost of living and only the cost of living.

"It is unfortunate that the governor's appointees... once again felt the need to demand legislative action in exchange for an increase in compensation," Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Republican Senate Leader John Flanagan said in a joint statement.