One area of contention during the legislative session that was held at the Springfield Convention Center last week was the matter of pay raises. A law put into place in 2014 granted a yearly raise for all lawmakers. Representative Avery Bourne along with Senator Andy Manar spoke about their views on the pay raise and they had very different answers.
Representative Bourne says that this is the wrong time for Legislators to get a pay raise and the only way that lawmakers wouldn’t get paid, is if they voted to stop it.
Lawmakers also get what is a Cost of Living Adjustment or COLA. Representative Bourne says she put up a bill to stop that from going through but it wasn’t brought up to be voted on.
State Senator Andy Manar agrees that they shouldn’t get a pay raise and says that not only are they not getting a pay raise, but that Republicans are confused.
The Senator continued saying that not only are they not getting a pay raise, but they lowered the COLA rate to 0.
Comptroller Susana Mendoza says no pay raises will be processed by her office. One way or the other, the question of whether or not pay raises were received will be answered when pay statements are available from her office this fall .
