Politics

Top Mass. lawmakers slated to get 20 percent pay bump

Gov.-elect Maura Healey is set to benefit from the pay raise.

By Christopher Gavin

December 30, 2022

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Massachusetts’ top lawmakers are slated to get their biggest pay bump in years in 2023, with a pay raise of 20 percent for certain officials on the way, including for Gov.-elect Maura Healey.

Meanwhile, salaries for the Legislature’s leadership could surpass $200,000 in the new year — their fourth pay jump in the last four legislative sessions, The Boston Globe reports.

The increases are among the largest for state officials since 2017, when lawmakers passed a $18 million package that provided significant pay raises, partly by boosting the stipends they can receive. The measure also connected the pay of the state’s six statewide constitutional officers to fluctuations in state wages.

Among those getting a pay hike is incoming governor Healey. The 20 percent bump will give the Democrat a base salary of $222,185 when she takes office — up $37,185 over current Gov. Charlie Baker’s pay, according to the Globe.

The governor also receives a $65,000 housing allowance, which means Healey is set to receive $287,185 in yearly compensation.

Incoming Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll will see a boost to $198,000, up from the previous $165,000 for her position, while incoming Attorney General Andrea Campbell will take in $222,639, up from $185,378.

Diana DiZoglio, the auditor-elect and a sitting state senator, will make $229,377.

Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano will also see big pay bumps, with increases of $25,000 that push their annual compensation to over $203,000, the Globe reports.

According to the newspaper, each individual elected official decides whether to take the raise — and some have already made up their mind.

A spokeswoman for Healey and Driscoll told the Globe both will “accept the salary that has been established by statute.”

The decision could be something of a political test for the pair, who campaigned this year on making Massachusetts more affordable for working families, especially as many residents have faced struggles with inflation over the past two years.

Campbell also confirmed she will accept the raise, as did DiZoglio, through a spokesman, according to the Globe.

For Secretary of State William Galvin, the raise apparently caught him by surprise.

“That’s news to me,” Galvin told the Globe through a spokeswoman.

Galvin said he was anticipating an increase around 4.4 percent, not the jump to $225,107 from his current $187,433.

“Whatever the percentage that has been determined, he doesn’t expect to concern himself with any potential pay raise until after next week’s swearing-in ceremonies are completed,” spokeswoman Deb O’Malley told the newspaper.

There are two factors driving the increases.

One is the constitutional amendment that connects lawmakers’ base pay to household median income, with the ability for the governor to decide the exact raise. Baker, informed by data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, ordered a raise of 4.42 percent for legislators this week.

The second component comes from a similar process established in the 2017 law. Although she is not legally required to complete a biennial analysis, state Treasurer Deb Goldberg has completed one since 2018, and determined this year that statewide constitutional officers are due a 20.1 percent pay raise beginning Jan. 1, according to the Globe.

Goldberg’s office told the newspaper it used the aggregate quarterly change in salaries and wages “for the most recent eight quarters, as determined by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the United States Department of Commerce.”

Goldberg has not yet said whether she personally will accept the raise, which would bump her compensation to almost $228,000.

“At this time, I will need to review it,” she told the Globe in a statement.

A spokesman for Mariano, however, told the newspaper he would accept the salary Goldberg “deems correct, based on the law.”

Staff for Spilka did not respond to a request for comment from the Globe.