7 months ago
Late Thursday afternoon, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced that he has begun the process of withholding the pay of state senators. DiNapoli's announcement came on Day 25 of the standoff in the senate between Republicans and Democrats. For the past few weeks, the governor has been urging Dinapoli not to pay senators because of their inaction.
DiNapoli's actions raise two big questions:
- Will senators get their pay back when the senate mess finally ends?
- Does DiNapoli have the power to withhold the pay?
DiNapoli says he's also going to court to ask a state judge to clarify the intent of the state constitution on the matter.
Here's the exact language from the constitution on the issue of legislators' pay:
"...the salary of any member cannot be increased or diminished (during the term they) have been elected."
On Thursday, we spoke with an expert on the state constitution, Canisius College's Peter Galie about legislators' pay.
"The constitution is very clear that these salaries cannot be diminished except by standing statue, and those statutes are passed by the legislature, not the governor or the judiciary," says Galie.
Scott Brown: "So only the legislature could reduce it's own salary?"
Galie: "That's right."
WGRZ
