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I was told that the State Legislature recently ( August 09) voted to give themselves a 10% raise. I was wondering how to determine if this was true or false, and if Legislative action is something to be found on this website?

Thanks

False. While generous to their staffs, legislators recently did not give themselves 10 percent raises.

The state Constitution prohibits sitting legislators from awarding themselves raises taking effect during their current term. Instead they can approve raises for legislators elected in a future statewide legislative election (which would include all incumbents who are reelected).

Theoretically, legislators in 2009 could approve raises for legislators elected or re-elected in 2010 and who take office in January 1011. Doing so might cause a voter backlash. To politically insulate themselves, legislators in the past waited until after election day to approve legislative raises to take effect in January.

However, in 2009, legislators gave their staffs raises of varying amounts. Some raises were well over 10 percent. Here’s a link to an AP story (August 24, 2009) about Senate raises (post coup).
http://www.newsday.com/more-ny-senate-staffers-get-raises-1.1391597

Here’s an earlier blog item about Assembly raises (April 22 ,2009). Link:
http://nypublicpayrollwatch.com/daily_updates/archives/2009/04/assemblyas_3_pe.html

SeeThroughNY updated its legislative payrolls in August. The latest goes through August 17, 2009. The highest paid legislative employee is Angelo Aponte, secretary of the Senate, who is paid $7,308 biweekly, or more than $190,000 a year. In contrast, the governor of New York is paid $179,000 a year.