Gov. Gavin Newsom, California legislators and other state elected officials will get a 4.2% salary increase this year after a state panel cited improving state finances and higher raises going to rank-and-file state workers as factors in the decision.
The California Citizens Compensation Commission, which is appointed by the governor, voted 4 to 0 to approve the pay hikes at its annual meeting Tuesday, Chairman Tom Dalzell said. The increases take effect in December.
Dalzell noted that other state employees were already getting slightly higher raises.
“With every other state employee getting money I don’t know what the rationale is for not giving them,” he said of raises for elected officials. “By any measure California is doing very well in terms of vaccination and infection containment. The economy is moving back.”
Legislators already had the highest base salary for state lawmakers in the country. The commission action this week bumps the official salary of state legislators up to $119,700.
The commission raised the governor’s official salary by $8,800 to $218,500.
The panel’s 4.2% raises go to 132 elected state officials, including the lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer and members of the Board of Equalization.
Dalzell said the commission action does not preclude elected officials from voluntarily waiving part of their salaries, as a handful did last year amid pay cuts to rank-and-file workers.
Last year, Newsom agreed to take the same pay…
