The Peru Gazette

The situation developed after Cuomo appointees on a special pay commission withheld their votes for an increase as the Nov. 15 deadline passed. Barring a last-minute decision to return to the Capitol in a special session — which Cuomo wants, but lawmakers appear to reject — legislators will start their next session in January earning the $79,500 annual base pay they’ve received since in 1999. At a New York City meeting of the State Commission on Legislative and Judicial Compensation, the word that the governor’s appointees to the commission would abstain from voting was delivered forcefully by Fran Reiter, a former Cuomo administration official who said legislative leaders had failed to effectively make their case for a raise. The Senate and Assembly could conceivably return to the Capitol and cut a deal in which they would secure a raise by passing it themselves, and agreeing to a ban or sharp limits on outside income in order to secure Cuomo’s signature. A similar deal was reached by the Legislature and former Gov. George Pataki, who extracted state support for charter schools in exchange for the 1999 raise. If lawmakers found voting for a legislative pay raise too politically perilous, the Legislature could conceivably return to pass a bill extending the panel’s deadline as part of a larger deal — though that tactic, which again would require Cuomo’s participation, could invite legal challenges to any resulting raise. Legislative leaders on Tuesday blasted the governor for linking a desired legislation to a pay hike.

Source: No pay raises for state legislators, commission says – Times Union