Compensation Committee Holds First Meeting

November 19th, 2018

The 2018 New York State Compensation Committee, which has been tasked with recommending whether state legislators and state agency heads should get a pay raise in 2019, held its first meeting on Tuesday.

The committee members are state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli; former State Comptroller Carl McCall; New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer; and former New York City Comptroller William Thompson. A fifth member, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, declined her appointment due to a constitutional prohibition on judges serving on non-judicial commissions.

State lawmakers’ last pay increase went into effect in 1999, when their base salary was increased to $79,500.  State agency heads earn between and $90,800 and $136,000 annually.

The committee is required to produce a report for the Governor’s office by December 10.  Any recommendations they make will become law unless the Legislature affirmatively rejects them.

The committee has scheduled two public hearings later this month, in Albany on Nov. 28 and in in New York City on Nov. 30.