Springfield — The lame-duck Illinois legislature is sending Gov. J.B. Pritzker a measure that would give pay raises to lawmakers starting with those sworn in for a new term Wednesday, while also boosting the salaries of the governor and other statewide officials and the heads of agencies appointed by the governor.
The pay raises would boost the annual salary of rank-and-file lawmakers to $85,000 from $72,906, a nearly 17% increase.
The Senate approved the plan Sunday night on a 30-21 vote after it passed the House late Friday on a 63-35 vote. The measure, which received no Republican votes in either chamber and faced opposition from some Democrats, now goes to Pritzker, who must sign it before being sworn in for a second term Monday.
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The governor’s salary, which Pritzker, a billionaire entrepreneur and Hyatt Hotels heir, does not collect, would be raised to $205,700 from $190,700, an 8% increase. The lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, treasurer and secretary of state — offices that all will remain filled by Democrats after Monday’s inauguration — also would get pay increases.
Secretary of State-elect Alexi Giannoulias, the lone newly elected official in that group, would be paid $183,300 — a 9% increase from the $168,300 salary paid to outgoing Secretary of State Jesse White, who’s held the office since 1999.
The proposal — part of a larger budget bill that includes additional funding for a variety of state programs and puts an $850 million deposit into the state’s rainy-day fund — also would boost pay for agency heads appointed by the governor, something the Pritzker administration sought.
The head of the beleaguered Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, for example, would see a nearly 8% raise to an annual salary of $200,000.
Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Springfield on Saturday that he sought raises for agency heads to help attract “great people” to positions in his administration by making pay competitive with other states and private-sector employers.
“While I know people are willing to take a discounted salary off of what they might get in the private sector to come do public service, you really have to be somewhat competitive,” Pritzker said. “People are putting their kids through college or they’re paying their home mortgage or their rent and you can’t ask people to take 50% of what they were taking in the private sector.”
As for the legislative raises, Pritzker said the legislature is a “coequal” branch of government.
“The legislature should make decisions for themselves about what’s appropriate for salary within the legislative branch,” Pritzker said.
He noted that lawmakers have not had a base pay increase since before the Great Recession, though after a decade of rejecting cost-of-living increases, lawmakers began receiving them again in 2019.
The measure also would create two new paid leadership positions, which come with additional stipends on top of the base salary, for legislative caucuses that have supermajorities, which Democrats hold in both chambers.
State Sen. Elgie Sims, a Chicago Democrat who sponsored the measure in the Senate, said Pritzker’s case for higher salaries for agency heads holds true for lawmakers as well.
“We have a citizen legislature, and what we are trying to make sure we accomplish is we have individuals who are the best and the brightest who are serving here,” Sims said.
Republican Sen. Chapin Rose of Mahomet said the raises, which come on top of a cost-of-living increase that kicked in July 1, are out of step with what constituents are experiencing.
Rose said that if he asked for a show of hands of who in his district received a similar raise in the past six months, “there wouldn’t be a single hand.”
“That’s all I’ve got to say about this,” he said.
During the House debate, Republican state Rep. Mark Batinick of Plainfield, who did not run for reelection for the new term, decried the raises as “Christmas in January for legislators.”
House Majority Leader Greg Harris, a Chicago Democrat who also is retiring at the end of the current term, defended the broader bill as part of the Democrats’ ongoing efforts to stabilize the state’s finances.
Harris said the measure is part of a “fiscally responsible budget … that we hope will help every citizen of the state of Illinois.”
The plan includes another Pritzker request: $400 million for a “large business attraction fund,” which the administration has said would be used to “provide the state the flexibility to tailor development packages to each unique situation.”
The Pritzker administration said in November that it expects the state to bring in an additional $3.7 billion in revenue above what was initially projected for the budget year ending June 30.
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com
