Daily News

Panel on State Officials’ Compensation Calls for Reforms, Increases

BOSTON — A seven-member advisory commission created by legislation to review compensation for the state’s constitutional officers and the Legislature presented its findings and recommendations Monday in a detailed report to the public and policy makers.

The commission, chaired by Ira Jackson, dean of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston, was established by Section 239 of the state budget and appointed in September 2014 to analyze compensation for public officials, including the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer, secretary of state, auditor, and the Legislature. The commission was mandated to issue its report by Dec. 1.

“The Advisory Commission conducted a transparent, open, data-driven review of the current compensation of public officials and developed a series of major reforms and recommendations based on its research, as well as input from the public,” said Jackson. “We recommend that the Legislature strongly consider implementing important reforms to the process of calculating compensation, while at the same time making appropriate increases in compensation levels for the governor and other elected officials to more adequately reflect their responsibilities.”

Recommended reforms include:
• Eliminating legislative per diem payments;
• Determining the biennial adjustment in legislative pay through a consistent process using 
data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis to measure the quarterly change in salaries and 
wages in Massachusetts for the most recent eight quarters;
• Calculating any increase or decrease in compensation for all constitutional officers and the 
House speaker and Senate president using the bureau’s data on a biennial basis;
• Limiting outside employment through a first-in-the-nation measure precluding the 
constitutional officers, House speaker, and Senate president from earning outside income, other than passive income; and
• Establishing future special advisory commissions on a biennial basis to conduct a thorough 
review of compensation and reforms.

Specific recommendations on compensation include:
• Ensuring that any compensation increases must be cost-neutral to the taxpayer through efficiencies and savings identified by the constitutional officers and Legislature and reported on an annual basis to ensure accountability and transparency;
• Establishing the salary for the governor at $185,000, which, when adjusted for cost of living, would rank 10th among the 50 states. Massachusetts is one of only six states that does not provide a governor’s residence or a housing allowance. The commission recommends that the governor receive a housing allowance of $65,000;
• Providing a salary of $175,000 for the attorney general and the treasurer and receiver general;
• Setting a salary of $165,000 for the lieutenant governor, the secretary of state, and the state auditor;
• Establishing compensation for the House speaker and Senate president at $175,000 annually; and
• Increasing the legislative office expense to $10,000 for legislators whose districts are within a 50-mile radius of Boston, and to $15,000 for legislators located outside that radius.

“While any recommendation to increase compensation for state leaders may be controversial, the commission believes these increases are appropriate based on the data we reviewed, and the recommended reforms are important foundations for public trust,” said Jackson. “The commission’s recommendations were guided by a thorough review of data comparing Massachusetts with other states, a strong desire to ensure that the state attracts and retains highly talented individuals regardless of means or geography, and the principle that officials should be fairly compensated based on the significant responsibilities of the offices they hold.”