The New York State comptroller says a commission should be set up to evaluate whether New York lawmakers should get a salary increase next year.
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli says instead of state lawmakers voting later this month to raise their own pay beginning in January, they should instead let an independent body make that decision.
“It would make the most sense to have a commission or someone take a look at that question, it’s probably something that should have been done a long time ago,” said DiNapoli, who says it’s preferable to resolving the matter in an end of the year “horse trading” session.
There’s been talk of a package of bills that would include pay raises for lawmakers as well as a minimum wage increase, and perhaps a plan for more charter schools or even other unrelated issues like the Dream Act, which would give college aid to children of immigrants.
DiNapoli was previously an Assemblyman for several years. He says it’s been a long time since legislators have had a pay increase, the last was in 1999, so it’s “not an unreasonable area of discussion.”
Governor Cuomo and the legislature have not yet decided whether to hold a special session; if they do, it will need to happen soon, by mid-December .
