Legislative pay raise passes Senate Finance

 
                            
In what is supposed to be a lean budget year, the Senate Finance committee passed S. 1124 which calls for an automatic increase of State Employee retirement COLA (cost of living adjustment) of 2% every year. I was open to this notion at first. This is all well-and-good for our dedicated state employees, but here’s the big catch: it includes the retirement for members of the General Assembly. Upon further research, I have found how the retirement system for legislators is superior than that of our teachers and our D.O.T. crewmen. It would be good for us to reconsider the inclusion of the General Assembly’s system in this increase.
                       
Here’s the basic difference between the Legislator’s Retirement and the State Employees retirement.
State Employees: 1.42% x years of service x salary
General Assembly: 4.82% x years of service x salary
Since the 2% increase is across the board, the gap between the two will be even greater.