Will Your State Lawmaker Take a Pay Raise?

On Dec. 1, all 253 members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly received an automatic Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) that boosted annual pay for rank and file lawmakers from $79,613 to $82,026. Salaries for legislative leaders rose from $115,364 to $118,845—a roughly 3 percent raise.

The hikes aren't a function of any action by the current legislature, but kick in automatically when the tri-state area's Consumer Price Index moves.

According to an editorial in the Pottstown Mercury, which blasts the automatic COLA's for Pennsylvania legislators, governor, and judges, the average salary for a state legislator in the United States is $34,000.

Pennsylvania currently faces a projected $350 million deficit for 2012.

Very few of us would refuse a payraise, but should the lawmakers?

Rep. Tim Briggs (D-149) will use the raise to make donations to various Montgomery County charities. "I don't donate to just one charity," he said, "but I get various local charitable requests throughout the year, and that's what I use this money for.

Sen. Daylin Leach (D-17) was the only legislator from the region who explicitly said he plans to keep his raise. The senator said that automatic raises should be available to more, not fewer, people. "I'm keeping the COLA," he told Patch from his District Office. "I support policies that give people cost of living adjustments. I support minimum wage and I support COLA increases."

Rep. Michael Gerber (D-148) told constituents at a Nov. 30 town hall meeting that he will write a check to the state treasury to cover the amount of his raise.

Freshman Rep. Pam DeLissio (D-194) said via text message that she is unsure of what she will do with the money and "has not yet considered all the options."

Not all Southeastern PA and Philadelphia lawmakers agree on returning the COLA raises.

• Though they didn't respond to an interview request in time for publication, Rep. Greg Vitali (D-166) (who stands to take over much of Penn Wynne if the state's controversial redistricting goes through), Rep.Thomas Killion (R-168), and Rep. John Myers (D-201) each returned their COLA money in 2009, according to the Susquehanna Valley News.

• Rep. Duane Milne (R-PA167) told his constituents in an email that he would return it. "If all state legislators returned their COLAs," he added. "It would replenish the state’s coffers to the tune of nearly half a million dollars."

• Rep. Warren Kampf (R-PA 157) returned his COLA money in 2010 and will do so again this year. "My own view," Kampf said, "is that other individuals in the state are not receiving raises, and I like my actions to show that I understand the situations they're in."

• Rep. William Adolph Jr. (R-165) told Patch he will write a check to the commonwealth, as he has done for the last several COLA hikes that have been instituted midterm.

• Rep. Kate Harper (R-61) said she will return the money. Harper plans to tack the amount of this most recent raise onto the check she sends to the treasury every month, a practice she began in 2009 when a COLA raise came in the wake of the onset of the recession. "No one in private industry, or most of the public sector, is getting pay raises. So why should we?"

• Sen. Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-9) announced on his Facebook wall on Nov. 28 that he will donate the money to charity. "In December, the governor, members of his cabinet, judges and members of the General Assembly will all receive an automatic cost-of-living adjustment," he wrote. "For the past three years, I have donated all of these COLAs to charity, and I will continue that practice with the upcoming COLA."

• Sen. Edwin Erickson (R-26) said he gives any COLA funds he receives, and then some, to charity. "I donate a lot more than 3 percent," he said. When asked if he gives as a show of solidarity with his financially- addled constituents, the senator replied, "I give to certain charities because I think they are good ones."
• Rep. Joseph Hackett (R-161) also donates the money to charity rather than the treasury. He explained he thinks the money is better spent locally, "at a street level," than it would be by the commonwealth.

• Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-PA19) will also be returning his COLA money. "He feels that given so many families' struggles to make ends meet, and the financial and business climate we're in, it's not the right time for a raise," said an aide to the senator.

• Sen. LeAnna Washington (D-4) doesn't have plans to return her COLA. "Right now there's nothing in the works," an aide told Patch.

• Sen.Cherelle Parker (D-200), Rep. Rosita Youngblood (D-198), Sen. Shirley Kitchen (D-3), and Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-7) did not respond to requests for comment.