Court allows legislators to keep raises and outside income; appeal expected

By Michael Gormleymichael.gormley@newsday.com @GormleyAlbanyJune 10, 2019

ALBANY — The state is considering an appeal of a lower court decision that allows legislators not only to keep their $30,500 pay raises this year, but also to continue to hold lucrative outside jobs.

The court ruling strikes down a major contingency for the pay raise determined in December: That legislators after Jan. 1, 2020, would have to quit their jobs outside the Legislature, which have often been part-time employment with law firms, if they wanted tro continue to get raises.

“It’s the worst of both worlds,” said Jim Coll of Seaford, founder of the nonpartisan good-government group ChangeNYS.org., said Monday.

Albany Supreme Court Justice Christina Ryba also ruled that the legislation that banned outside income beginning in 2020 was tied to future installments of the raises in 2020 and 2021. Because of that, she ruled those two years’ of raises are also null and void. That would cost each legislator another $20,000 in raises, which they thought had been approved in December by a special pay commission they appointed with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Cuomo had wanted outside pay to be eliminated, citing past scandals; while many legislators, led by Senate Republicans, said denying outside work violated their constitutional right to provide for their families.

The suit was brought by Assemb. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Smithtown), Bronx activist Roxanne Delgado and Saratoga County Republican leaders David Arrigo and David Buchyn against the state and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli as part of the pay commission.

DiNapoli spokesman Matthew Sweeney said Monday the comptroller is still reviewing the decision and no appeal has yet begun.

Cuomo called the decision “a confused ruling” that he expects will be appealed.

“I think it’s easily remedied legislatively, I also think it was a bad decision that will be reversed on appeal,” he said. “What’s the alternative, to take the raise but not ban outside income? Which I don’t think the people of this state would stand for.”

Legislative leaders didn’t respond to requests for comment. Under the legislation they created, the recommendations of the pay commission they appointed became law unless the Legislature rejected its package of raises. The Legislature didn’t.

Restoring the legislators’ 2020 and 2021 raise installments isn’t a simple matter. Sweeney said the pay commission has dissolved, so the Legislature and governor would have to pass another bill to revive the commission.

Friday’s decision could be appealed as far as the state’s highest court.

The commission decided in December, just weeks after the legislative elections, to increase lawmakers’ pay from $79,500 a year to $110,000 this year; to $120,000 on Jan. 1, 2020; and to $130,000 on Jan. 1, 2021.

Other raises were upheld by Friday’s court decision. Cuomo’s salary rose to $200,000 this year, and will rise to $225,000 on Jan. 1 and to $250,000 on Jan. 1, 2021. Salaries for the comptroller, attorney general and lieutenant governor rose from $151,000 to $190,000 this year, and will rise to $210,000 in 2020 and $220,000 in 2021.

Coll, of ChangeNYS.org., said the ruling is a “very dangerous opinion.”

“It upholds the ability of the state Legislature and the governor to allocate to a select group of individuals the power to exercise their specifically allocated constitutional functions. These bodies -- unelected and unaccountable -- can now write law without any further input from the elected representatives of our state.”

The Government Justice Center, a good-government advocate, also is challenging the pay raise commission’s validity.

The center’s officials “continue to disagree that the Legislature could hand over its lawmaking power to an unaccountable committee and will consider their appeal options going forward,” said Cameron Macdonald, executive director of the Government Justice Center.