Aren’t raises great?

Everyone likes more money. Everyone appreciates finding out that hard work and service to an employer is rewarded with a little bit extra in the bank account.

For too many people, that just doesn’t happen. There are pay freezes. There are sad conversations about how valuable you are but it’s just not in the budget this year. And that’s assuming you aren’t downsized or your company doesn’t close down entirely.

Yes, it would be great if you were guaranteed by law to have a raise that was equal to, oh, let’s say the cost of living. But that’s ridiculous. Who would have that kind of assurance built into a job?

That would be state legislators.

Not only do Pennsylvania lawmakers have built-in job security for the terms of their office — two years for representatives and four years for senators — but since 1995, the cost of living increase as calculated based on the Consumer Price Index has been set in stone.

This is the kind of thing that can rankle an average Pennsylvanian on a year when that raise is just a percent or two.

But this year, amid historic inflation, The Caucus news outlet is estimating an 8.8% increase. That follows a 5% increase last year, giving a two-year total raise projected at about 14%.

Per capita income in Pennsylvania averages at $35,000. A 14% raise on that amount could be life-changing. It would be the equivalent of extra overtime someone didn’t have to work or the second job someone didn’t have to pick up.

For lawmakers, it will push them over the threshold to six-figure salaries. Sure, the top officials in the House and Senate are already over that mark and will go as high as $162,000, but the random representative makes about $95,000 and with the anticipated raise will pass $103,000.

And let’s not forget — that’s before the expenses and per diems that can be a hefty bonus.

Some return their raise. A Spotlight PA story delved into not just the math of that — few actually do it — but the complications around it. Even if it was returned, it still counts as income.

To be fair, the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, auditor general and treasurer are also part of the same Public Official Compensation Law amendment. Judges are too. So it might seem unfair to single out the lawmakers. But they are the ones who have the power to change the law and stop the raises from being automatic. The ball is in their court the way it isn’t for other offices.

More to the point, it is a ball they have let sail past them when it is pitched. A 2021 proposal to stop the raise this year had unanimous support from both parties in committee but never made it in front of the full House. A Senate bill to eliminate the automatic increase entirely has been stuck in committee for eight months.

Legislators are in the unique position of being employees who write the rules about their paychecks and the only way to change that is to remind them who controls their pink slips: the voters.

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