Legislature Sneaks In Pay Raises at the Wire
Rank and file legislatures will see their base pay bumped to $85,000 per year under a measure signed by Gov. Pritzker Monday morning.
Governor JB Pritzker signed a Budget Implementation (BIMP) bill Monday morning, which includes investments in the state’s rainy day fund and a “closing fund” for the Governor to attract business to Illinois.
The most controversial provision includes pay raises for legislators, constitutional officers, and agency directors. The constitution prohibits changing legislator or constitutional officer pay midterm. Pritzker signed the bill just hours before constitutional officers took their oath of office.
The provision boosts the salary of lawmakers from around $73,000 to $85,000. It comes on the heels of another increase lawmakers gave themselves in the budget enacted in July, totally a nearly 20% pay hike in six months.
The Senate sent the plan to the Governor’s desk Sunday night by a 30-21 vote. Five Democrats, Sen. Mike Hastings (D-Frankfort), Sen. Patrick Joyce (D-Essex), Sen. Meg Loughran-Cappel (D-Shorewood), Sen. Rob Martwick (D-Chicago), and Sen. Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) all opposed the pay raise. Three other Democrats, Sen. Chris Belt (D-Cahokia), Sen. Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford), and Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield) all “took a walk” and avoided voting on the bill Sunday.
Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) defended the pay hikes.
“We have a citizen legislature, and what we are trying to make sure we accomplish is we have individuals who are the best and the brightest who are serving here,” he said.
Republicans argued lawmakers don’t deserve a pay hike based on their job performance alone. Lawmakers already voted themselves a pay increase in the budget that passed in April.
In the scheme of a $50 billion budget, $2 million in additional legislative salaries is a drop in the bucket, but many Democrats are already concerned about it being a campaign issue next year or in 2026.
