HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Each year, no matter what they’ve accomplished in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania lawmakers get a raise.
State law has required a yearly increase since 1995 as a way to prevent lawmakers from enriching themselves. The increase is based on an annual cost-of-living-adjustment that matches the federal consumer inflation figure for mid-Atlantic urban areas.
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Last year, that meant a 3.25% increase — making the $113,500 annual salary the highest in the nation for full-time lawmakers.
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, which has sat at $7.25 since 2009, is the lowest in the nation.
Rep. Emilky Kinkead (D-Allegheny) and Rep. G. Roni Green (D-Philadelphia) want to change that by tying lawmakers’ salaries to the state’s lowest-paid workers. The two proposed a bill this week that would require the state’s minimum wage to rise at the same rate as salaries in the General Assembly.
“If we are getting a raise from taxpayers, then taxpayers should get a raise, as well,” the two lawmakers said in a co-sponsorship memo to colleagues.
The bill, known as House Bill 2312, faces long odds in the legislature. Lawmakers were apprehensive about delving into the matter when they got their last raise in December.
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Kinkead and Green said lawmakers who have seen a 45% increase in their salaries over 17 years have benefited from the policy.
“It is time that we afford the same respect to taxpayers,” the two lawmakers said.
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