Members of the Connecticut General Assembly and top-level statewide officials receive significant pay raises Wednesday that includes a jump in base salary for the part-time lawmakers from $28,000 to $40,000.
State lawmakers voted last May to approve the legislation that grants the pay hikes for themselves and these other specified leadership positions:
- House speaker and Senate president pro tempore increases from $38,689 to $52,000
- House and Senate majority and minority leaders from $36,835 to $50,000
- House and Senate deputy majority and minority leaders and deputy House speaker from $34,446 to $49,000
- House and Senate assistant majority and minority leaders and majority and minority whips, and standing committee chairs from $32,241 to $46,500.
- Standing committee ranking members from $30,403 to $44,500
- Governor from $150,000 to $226,711, same as the state Supreme Court chief justice
- Lieutenant governor from $110,000 to $189,483, same as Superior Court judges
The pay raises are in effect for top state-level officials as Connecticut residents are coping with a 50 percent increase in state electric prices this winter, the gradual restoration, following a suspension, of the state’s 25-cents per-gallon gasoline excise tax, and, nationally, a recession and another inflation spike in 2023, as predicted by economists.
Proponents of the salary hikes, the first in 21 years, reasoned offering more money for state posts could result in better quality candidates to run for office.
“It’s time,” State Representative Bob Godfrey (D- Danbury) said in May, as reported by Hearst media, after a 95-53 vote in the state House and a 23-13 vote in the state Senate approved the raises.
Godfrey appeared to dismiss any concerns about the size of the pay increases by “reminding the chamber that an inflation chart indicates that $28,000 in 2001 would be worth $45,000 today,” Hearst media noted.
“You can talk about part-time legislators until the cows come home, or not,” Godfrey said. “Everyone of us works every day, every year, weekends, holidays. It is a full-time job and the low amount of compensation makes it very difficult to recruit candidates.”
The state representative said potential candidates are turned off when he discusses the time and effort required for the posts, and, then, reveals the pay.
Godfrey reportedly added blue-collar workers are often unable to run for positions in the General Assembly because they can’t afford to take time off from their regular jobs to fulfill their state duties.
“Sadly, it means that too many of us, we don’t look like the state of Connecticut economically,” he added. “We skew a little up the income levels, we skew a little toward the rich and I think you can probably make an argument that that skews some of the consideration of some of the legislation.”
State Representative David Wilson (R-Litchfield) also voted in favor of the pay raises, claiming, in May, the legislation was “long overdue,” according to Hearst media.
“It became abundantly clear very soon, when you really laid it out, which I think oftentimes doesn’t happen when we are trying to recruit people to run for the people’s House,” Wilson said. “I think it is underplayed to a great degree that this is a part-time position. When I say under-played what I really mean they’re not telling you it’s a full-time position.”
Former Connecticut State Senator Len Suzio (R-Meriden), however, told The Connecticut Star those who are willing to serve in state government should have their primary focus on public service.
“When you consider that a legislator’s position is supposed to be part-time, that $40,000 salary is equivalent to a $100,000 full-time salary and the benefits in the form of health care and retirement are terrific,” Suzio said, adding:
That doesn’t include the fact that many legislators become full time politically appointed state positions in the many patronage jobs available. Not only do they get a big pay increase, they continue to accrue retirement benefits that can lead to a whopping retirement income exceeding $100,000 per year in many cases.
“No one should serve in the legislature because it’s a good paying job,” the former state senator added. “The primary motive should be public service, even if it involves a sacrifice.”
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Connecticut State Capitol” by jglazer75. CC BY 2.0.
