ANNAPOLIS – In preparation for the upcoming legislative session, the General Assembly Compensation Commission met Thursday to discuss the future of Maryland’s legislators’ salaries, with much of their discussion focusing on pensions.
With annual salaries standing at $43,500, Maryland’s legislators are the highest paid part-time legislators in the country, ranking only behind the nation’s nine full-time legislatures. This commission, which convenes every four years, will decide on changes in legislators’ salaries, expense allowances, benefits and pensions. They are appointed by the governor, speaker of the House and president of the Senate.
The meeting began with an “informal” testimony by Sen. Leonard H. Teitelbaum, D-Montgomery, who asked the commission to consider an increase in the rate at which legislators’ pensions will build up over the time they serve.
Currently, lawmakers receive 3 percent of their final salary for every year that they serve, up to a maximum of 67 percent of their final salary. They are eligible to receive their pensions as early as age 50, as long as they’ve served more than eight years.
Teitelbaum, 72, suggested pushing the increase earned per year to 3.5 percent and the maximum pension to 75 percent. In comparison, Maryland teachers receive a maximum of 38 percent of their final salary.
“I think that would put us more in line” with other states, Teitelbaum said. “I don’t think we’re talking about significant dollars here in terms of compensation and its cost to the state.”
H. Furlong Baldwin, a member of the commission, responded to Teitelbaum by reminding him that Maryland is part-time and well-paid.
“In fairness, we have to look at the whole package,” Baldwin said. “I think it fits the description of part time.”
Teitelbaum, who will complete his 20th year in the Assembly, said, “The term part-time is a misnomer.” He said he works 65 hour weeks for the three months during the legislative session and at least 24 hours a week during the interim. The last time the commission met, in 2002, the General Assembly received a 38 percent pay increase, the second largest increase in the country behind New Jersey’s full-time legislature.