December 11, 2018
Citizens Union, a leading good government group committed to reforming New York City and State government to foster accountability, accessibility, and transparency, issues the following statement on the proposed legislative pay increase and outside compensation restrictions:
New Yorkers deserve a highly professional state government. In order to attract the best, brightest, and most independent to public service, elected officials need to be compensated fairly for the work they do. For years, Citizens Union has advocated for greater pay for legislators to reflect that the office is a full-time job and to limit legislators’ need to seek outside compensation. We have also long supported significantly limiting the outside compensation of legislators, which would make elected officials more directly accountable to the public that elected them and the taxpayers that pay their salaries. Citizens Union supports the Compensation Committee’s proposals and, while it is unclear whether recommendations regarding outside compensation and stipends for legislators are binding, we urge the legislature to remove any doubt by promptly passing those restrictions in the new session.