Coronavirus In Pennsylvania: State Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Freeze Salaries Of Public Officials During COVID-19 Pandemic
HARRISBURG (KDKA) -- A state lawmaker says that public officials should not be getting pay raises amid the coronavirus pandemic when so many are out of work.
So on Tuesday, Rep. Frank Ryan, a Lebanon Republican, introduced a bill to freeze their salaries.
Of all the full-time state legislatures, Pennsylvania is the largest and the third-highest paid in the country after California and New York, which have far fewer lawmakers.
Pennsylvania lawmakers receive a cost of living increase every year without having to vote on it.
Their base salary is now $90,300, with an additional $179 per diem for every day in attendance, plus benefits that one lawmaker says adds up to about $160,000 per lawmaker.
Ryan says this is not the year for a pay raise, and he has a bill (H.B. 2487) to stop it.
"It would freeze their pay at the current salary and would prevent the cost of living allowances from going into effect for the next two years," Rep. Ryan told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Tuesday.
Ryan says Pennsylvania public officials should not be getting pay raises when so many Pennsylvanians are out of work.
"As a Marine, I will tell you that we always believe in leading from the front," Ryan said. "And what we would say is, make sure that you don't ask someone to do something that you wouldn't have to do yourself."
His bill would freeze pay for other public officials, including, "all members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the senior members of the governor's staff, the lieutenant governor and the governor, the cabinet secretaries and all judges."
Ryan says his bill would save $5 million to $6 million, and he says House leaders, including Speaker Mike Turzai who supports the bill, are going to fast-track the bill.
No word yet on whether Governor Tom Wolf, who donates his $194,850 salary to charity, will sign this bill.
