ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo this week will propose a commission to consider a pay raise for state lawmakers and agency heads, the Daily News has learned.
Cuomo’s plan would require for the first time a two-tier legislative salary structure — one amount for lawmakers who don’t have outside income and a lower amount for those who do, said one source.
But before anyone can get a raise, the commission will be required to recommend a specific cap on outside income, require greater public disclosure of what lawmakers actually do to earn their outside salaries, and bar legislators from representing clients who have business before the state.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who in 2013 made between $650,000 and $750,000 in outside pay, is under federal investigation over income from a New York City law firm. He also does not reveal what he does to earn his main source of outside income from another law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg.
Legislators were livid with the governor late last year when talks over a pay raise went nowhere.
The commission, which Cuomo will propose Wednesday as part of his state budget proposal, would be made up of one appointee each by Cuomo, Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican, the source said.
The panel would also look at the other forms of taxpayer compensation legislators receive, including stipends and travel expenses while in Albany, and make reform recommendations as it sees fit.
State lawmakers, who make a base annual salary of $79,500, haven’t had a raise since 1999. State agency commissioner pay has also been frozen for years, making it harder to attract people, Cuomo has groused.
The state Constitution prohibits a sitting Legislature from giving itself a pay raise, meaning any legislation could not go into effect until 2017.
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A popular question around the Capitol is whether flame-throwing new Democratic Assemblyman Charles Barron will try to disrupt Cuomo on Wednesday like he did as a city councilman by yelling, “Tax the rich” and “Shame on you” during a 2011 speech by the governor to black, Hispanic and Puerto Rican legislators.
Cuomo aides are concerned, but Barron, a former Black Panther, says he isn’t planning any outbursts because he doesn’t want to be booted from the event while Cuomo outlines his budget and policy plans.
“I have to hear everything he has to say,” Barron said. “I will definitely have a strong response afterward.”
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The executive director of the state Senate Democratic Campaign Committee is leaving after more than four years to join the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
Josh Cherwin will become the museum’s director of institutional advancement, a fund-raising position, a source said.
The Senate Dems will not fill his position, sources say. Instead, Evan Rantzaklis, who is Cherwin’s No. 2, will become finance director while Loren Amor, who works on the government side, will become the campaign committee’s political director.
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Senate Republicans will hold the first of at least two hearings on police Jan. 28. NYPD and police union officials are expected to testify.
