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Above, a State House News Service file photo of House Majority Leader Mariano.
Lawmakers set to be sworn in Wednesday learned they will get a base pay amount that's 11% higher in the new year.
Under the constitution, governors are required to adjust legislative base pay every two years and Gov. Maura Healey on Tuesday wrote a letter to Treasurer Deborah Goldberg outlining her conclusions.
Healey said her team used the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey to determine that median household income for Massachusetts for the 2023-2024 period increased by 11.39 percent.
By contrast, those earning the $15 an hour minimum wage did not get a pay bump Wednesday for the second year in a row.
Lawmakers' base salaries will increase by $8,391, from $73,655 to $82,046, according to a spokesperson for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance. The vast majority of lawmakers earn stipends on top of that base salary for taking on leadership roles, which range from an extra few thousand dollars to over $100,000 on top of the base pay all lawmakers receive. Plus, many legislators hold other jobs outside of the Legislature where they collect a separate paycheck.
The new Legislature must convene on the first Wednesday in January, necessitating a New Year's Day session.
