The lame duck legislature is moving forward on salary increases for state officials, including legislators who have not had a raise in two decades.
Under legislation unveiled today, legislators would be paid $75,000 annually, up from the $49,000 level last set in 2002. The raise will take effect in January 2026, which means State Assembly members will need to face the voters once before that. Legislative leaders had originally proposed $85,000 as the yearly salary; instead, lawmakers will get automatic salary adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index not to exceed 2%, beginning in January 2028.
The State Constitution requires lawmakers to wait for at least one election: “no increase or decrease shall be effective until the legislative year following the next general election for members of the General Assembly.”
Part-time legislators in New York make $142,000, and they’re paid $103,000 in Pennsylvania.
New Jersey will also bump the salary of the Governor from $175,000 to $210,000, but not until the term-limited incumbent, Phil Murphy, leaves office in January 2026. This is the first pay hike for a governor since 2002.
Members of the governor’s cabinet will see their salaries increase from $175,000 to $210,000, their first raise since 2018. Their raises will be retroactive to July 1, 2023.
But Lt. Governor Tahesha Way, who took office in September following the death of Sheila Oliver, will not get a raise. She makes $175,000 as the Secretary of State, and her salary will remain at that level for the duration of her term. The winner of the 2025 election will be the first to earn $210,000.
The legislation will extend automatic increases for Supreme Court justices and Superior Court judges until 2027. They began to receive raises based on the CPI in 2021, but that was set to expire in 2025.
Presiding judges of the Superior Court and Tax Court will earn $207,166
The top staffers for both parties in both houses of the legislature, along with the executive director of the Office of Legislative Services, will go up from $175,000 to $210,000. These are also retroactive to July 1.
The salary bill provides for other executive branch posts to earn cabinet-level salaries: the Civil Service Commission chair, the Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, the Secretary of Higher Education, the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness director, the Motor Vehicle Commission administrator, the State Comptroller, and the state’s chief technology officer. The State Police and Motor Vehicles post will no longer have their salaries set by the Civil Service Commission.
State Police Superintendent Pat Callahan will also receive supplemental compensation from the federal Emergency Management Performance Grant Program.
The New Jersey Globe first reported that salary increases would be considered by the legislature during the lame duck session.