CT Legislators Vote For Own Pay Raise

CONNECTICUT — State legislators voted to give themselves pay raises for the first time in more than two decades.

Legislators would go from a base salary of $28,000 to $40,000 starting next year. Future raises would be tied to the Employment Cost Index. The bill also raised the salaries of most constitutional officers.

The governor's salary would be tied to that of the chief justice of the state Supreme Court. The lieutenant governor, treasurer, attorney general, secretary of the state and comptroller would make as much as a Superior Court judge.

The bill passed the house 95-53 and the Senate 23-13. Gov. Ned Lamont said he would sign the bill, according to CT News Junkie.

Legislators last got a pay raise in 2001. Both Republican and Democratic legislators cited low pay as the reason they wouldn’t seek re-election.

Rep. Bob Godfrey (D-Danbury) proposed a bill that would raise legislative base pay to about $44,000 annually, but it didn’t make it to a vote earlier in the session.. The amount is based on inflation since 2001.

“As alluded to by colleagues on both sides of the aisle on opening day, members of the General Assembly have had to step down from their positions as legislators to seek higher-paying jobs,” Godfrey said in bill testimony. “Moreover, the low salary pushes working and middle-class people out of the ability to serve as a legislator, skewing these positions towards the rich.”

The legislature is only in session a few months of the year, but the job essentially becomes full-time duty, Godfrey said.