From State House News:
HOUSE APPROVES REVENUE COMMITTEE PAY RAISES: By a vote of 121-20, the House on Wednesday agreed to a trio of contentious pay raises, one each for the chairs of the Committee on Revenue and one for the House vice chair. House and Senate budget chiefs attempted to tack pay raises for legislative leaders onto a supplemental budget during Monday’s informal session but House Republicans held the bill up Monday and again on Tuesday. The amendment approved by the House would increase the pay of the two co-chairs by $7,500, which Rep. Angelo Scaccia argued on Wednesday would bring those lawmakers’ salaries back up to pre-2005 levels. Scaccia, who added that the House should address the pay levels of all of its members, said the Revenue Committee deals with more than 1,000 bills every session and is the second most powerful committee on Beacon Hill. House Minority Leader Bradley Jones said that during tough economic times, the Legislature shouldn’t be granting its own members pay hikes, especially quietly during informal sessions, as lawmakers first attempted to do. Rep. Harriett Stanley was the only Democrat to vote against the raises, which will benefit vice-chair Rep. William Straus, and co-chairs Rep. John Binienda and Sen. Cynthia Creem. Straus and Binienda voted present. Scaccia said the pay raises would only be retroactive to January 2008, not 2005, as one member suggested was possible. In a statement issued shortly after the vote, state
In a statement issued shortly after the vote, state Republican Party Executive Director Rob Willington said, "The arrogance of the Democrats on Beacon Hill is astounding. This is the same party that's forcing cities and towns to raise property taxes because they aren't giving them more local aid. Now they say the reason they can't provide more local aid is because they need to give themselves gluttonous pay raises. Business as usual up on Beacon Hill." The statement was issued as the House began consideration of a resolution pledging a 4.4 percent, $223 million local aid hike, to $5.26 billion. The resolution eventually passed.
|