Mass. Lawmakers Receive 6.46% Pay Bump Amid Thousands Facing Unemployment

Massachusetts legislators will reportedly receive a 6.46% pay hike to their base pay amid high unemployment rates throughout the commonwealth brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

State senators and representatives will reportedly receive a $4,280 bump in their salaries, which will be the third raise in three legislative sessions, to increase their base pay to $70,536, the Boston Herald reports. Additionally, the Massachusetts House speaker and Senate president will each have salaries exceeding $178,000 with the new pay hike.

Lawmakers will also receive a separate 4.89% hike on office expense accounts, while leadership will be receive an additional hike for lucrative stipends, the Boston Herald reports.

“We’re in the middle of record-high unemployment, people can’t pay their rent, people don’t have enough to maintain their businesses and their businesses are closing — to me, it’s bad timing,” said Greg Sullivan, research director of the Pioneer Institute, acknowledging the state's current unemployment rate is around 6.7%, double the rate from the previous year, via the Boston Herald.

The raises were made possible due to a controversial pay hike legislation approved four years ago, which tied biennial adjustments to inflation.

“Cost of living increases make sense for everyone in terms of government benefits, social security and other programs,” State Rep. Mike Connolly told the Boston Herald. Connolly argued that lawmakers currently make less than the state's median area income, which Housing and Urban Development said was equal to $106,000 last year.

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