Our 253 state legislators - 203 in the House of Representatives and 50 in the Senate - along with officials in the executive and judicial branches - are in line to receive their largest automatic pay increase in history late this year. This will send legislators’ base salaries higher than $100,000 for the first time.

The increases are tied by legislation to the annual rate of inflation for urban consumers of Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, which, of course, you know has been extremely high this year, piggybacking on higher than normal inflation last year. Although the specific amount won’t be known for a few months yet, the inflation rate for much of the summer has been ranging between 8% and 9%.

This means that each rank-and-file legislator would get at least an $8,300 salary jump, and the best part, at least as far as the legislators are concerned, is that they don’t have to vote on it. As noted earlier, it’s automatic.

In 1995, during secret budget negotiations, legislators decided that it was too messy, even embarrassing, going back to the well each time they wanted to increase their salaries, so they devised the plan to tie a cost of living increase (COLA) to the annual rate of inflation. To spread the guilt, the legislation included not only legislators but also executive and judicial branch officials. Legislative pay hikes take effect on Dec. 1, while the others start in January 2023.

While inflation was low (1%-3% or, in some years nonexistent), there was grousing but no major complaints, but with inflation at a 40-year high, the coming increase is getting a lot of attention. Since 1996, there have been just three years when legislators received no increase - 2010, 2016 and the COVID-19-related year, 2020 - that’s how tame inflation was back in the good old days.

With the House back in session as of this past Monday and the Senate set to reconvene this coming Monday, there are sure to be some legislators who will try to control the public relations fallout by advocating to reduce the size of the increase or to eliminate it completely. This type of move should have more traction during an election year such as this one when all House members and half of the Senate are up for re-election.

When a legislator is out on the campaign trail, it will be a neat trick for him or her to explain to frustrated voters why they are getting such a steep raise when voters might be thinking that this is a time for restraint and a certain amount of austerity. After all, Pennsylvania’s legislators are already the third highest paid in the country, next only to California and New York.

Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate, has introduced a bill to forego the increase for this year, but he was able to get just four co-sponsors, and the bill has been stuck in committee since January. Several statewide news agencies polled legislators on how they feel about not taking the raises this year, but few responded.

According to Spotlight PA, a statewide media group, just six state lawmakers - none from our five-county area - have given back at least a portion of their annual pay raises in the last four years. Going back to 2009, Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, returned a total of $6,100 to the state from his salary that year, according to Spotlight PA.

Gov. Tom Wolf, who is completing his second and final term-limited tenure, has never taken compensation since assuming office in 2015. The governor’s salary is $201,729. The highest paid elected office-holder in Pennsylvania is Supreme Court Chief Justice Max Baer, whose salary is $234,000, but his term ends when he becomes 75, the mandatory retirement age, on Dec. 24 of this year. The six associate judges, including Lansford native Christine Donohue, who are now earning $227,000 could see their compensation go up by about $16,000 in 2023.

According to State Rep. Brad Rose, R-Crawford, who returned $3,200 between 2011 and 2018 but none since, said doing so is a “complicated and time-consuming” process.

When a legislator or other official returns either some or all of the compensation, all of it is still considered taxable, and the full amount has an impact on pension and other calculations, so it’s not just a matter of writing a check and sending it back to the state.

If the increases take place as scheduled, it would mark the second year in a row that our state legislators and administrative and judicial officials would be getting much better than average increases. Last year, rank-and-file legislators received about a $5,000 increase to $95,432.

Those who hold leadership positions make more. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre, and House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, make the most now at $148,976. Their increases for 2023 would balloon by more than $13,100 each.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.