It’s no secret that most members of the New York State Legislature would like to vote themselves an increase in their $79,500 base pay. Under the state Constitution, however, they can only approve a pay raise effective with a future legislative term.  And if they don’t act before midnight on Dec. 31, when the current term ends, they’ll have to wait another two years.

Governor Andrew Cuomo seemed to dash those expectations when he said Nov. 20 that he didn’t think there would be an end-of-year special session of the Legislature to deal with issues including the pay hike — although he didn’t flatly rule it out, either. The Legislature doesn’t need the governor’s invitation to hold such a session, but his cooperation is considered essential, since Cuomo could embarrass members by vetoing a pay hike he had not agreed to in advance. On the other hand, lawmakers effectively are linking salary raises for senior executive branch officials (including the governor himself, who makes $179,000) to their own pay hikes.

As of 2012, only California and Pennsylvania gave their state lawmakers higher base pay than New York does.  See the table on this page for the latest full rundown of state legislative compensation across the country.

New York’s Legislature, which got its last raise in 1998, also distributes added pay stipends of up to $41,500 a year to members with “leadership” titles – a very broad category that takes in a majority of the Assembly and virtually all of the Senate.  Senate Majority Leader and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver each earn total salaries of $121,000, not including per-diem expenses during session and other leadership perks, making them second highest-paid legislative leaders in the country.  Each leader also draws income from a private law firm.

New York legislators not only qualify for public pensions (a benefit denied to California counterparts), but members elected before 1994 are allowed to collect both pensions and salaries. As of 2012, some 15 New York lawmakers in both parties were double-dipping in this fashion.  State Sen. Hugh Farley recently announced that he would join that club in 2013.

The New York State Legislature also has an exceptionally large staff budget of roughly $1 million per member. As of 2009, this ranked third highest in the nation — again, behind only California and Pennsylvania, and two-and-a-half times the national average.