State officials to receive pay raises

State lawmakers will have a nice Christmas gift waiting for them next month.

Starting December 1, they'll be getting an automatic pay raise. Now some are calling for these raises to come to an end.

State law requires an automatic pay increase for Pennsylvania lawmakers, judges, and top executive officials. Their annual salaries increasing by thousands.

"The automatic pay raise is legalized theft," said Eric Epstein.

Epstein, with the state watchdog group Rock the Capital, has been an outspoken critic of the state's automatic Cost of Living Adjustments or COLA for state lawmakers, judges, and top executive branch officials for years.

"We should go back to where we were prior to 1995," said Epstein. "And if the legislators want a pay raise, put it before the voters."

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