Cap on legislative income on pause, for now

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — State Supreme Court Justice Alison Napolitano temporarily blocked a law that limited income for lawmakers in New York. The injunction maintains the current rules while legal motions around the law advance through the courts.

The cap would not have gone into effect until January 2025, but it’s still not off the table for good. Napolitano’s ruling on July 17 lets litigation continue, and the court may ultimately rule in favor of the law.

The legislature passed S9617 / A10730 , enacting new regulations on pay for New York State Senators and Assemblymembers, in December 2022. Part of it already went into effect, raising their legislative salaries to $142,000 on January 1, 2023. It also placed an upper limit on how much money they could earn outside of their official duties as lawmakers to $35,000.

Even with the law in place, legislators in New York could still legally make more than $177,000 per year ($142,000 plus $35,000). The bill carved out several income exemptions, like:

• Compensation for service in the armed forces
• Royalties for copyrights and patents
• Disbursements from retirement and pension plans
• Investments and capital gains
• Income from a family business
• Delayed compensation from before being sworn in

Assuming 2,080 full-time hours in a year—40 hours times 52 weeks—New York’s legislators could make as much as $85 an hour. Plus, according to the financial website Don’t Quit Your Day Job , a household making $142,000 in 2023 would be among the top 25% of incomes in the state. And according to Ballotpedia , the next four states with the highest annual base salaries are:

• California: $122,694
• Pennsylvania: $102,844
• Illinois: $85,000
• Massachusetts: $73,655

Meanwhile, state legislators in New Mexico receive no compensation, and in New Hampshire, they get $100 per year.

Based on publicly available financial disclosure statements , the New York Public Interest Group accounted for outside income self-reported by legislators . Crunching the numbers shows that under 22% of State Senators or Assemblymembers—about 45 out of 210—would be limited by the rule.

The defendants—the lawmakers behind the bill—argued that they hoped to reduce conflicts of interest and ethical dilemmas. However, according to the plaintiffs, other procedures already address potential conflicts of interest. Plus, the $35,000 cap and the exemptions are arbitrary, they said, and the penalty for violating the cap—losing the ability to cast votes in the legislature—disenfranchises the New Yorkers who voted for those legislators.

Napolitano compared whether harms to plaintiffs from not granting the injunction would outweigh harms to the defendants from granting it. Because the limit would take effect in January 2025, candidates in the November 2024 election need to decide whether to resign from a job that pays over the limit, or to close their business altogether. She ruled in their favor, and the injunction lasts at least until the courts decide on the constitutionality of the law.

Take a look at the ruling below:

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