Washington Salary Panel Rejects Pay Hike for Governor, Freezing Pay for Governor, Attorney General and Lt. Governor
The Washington Citizens Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials, meeting for a full day at an Olympia hotel on Thursday, October 15, adopted a recommendation under which Governor Bob Ferguson will not receive a raise for the next two years, with salaries for the attorney general and lieutenant governor also frozen.
Commissioners did agree to give state lawmakers, along with the superintendent of public instruction, the treasurer and the commissioner of public lands, increases of 2 percent on July 1, 2027, and another 2 percent on July 1, 2028. Judges, including state Supreme Court justices, would also receive 2 percent hikes next July and 2 percent a year later. In one of their final votes, commissioners agreed to boost the salaries of the offices of secretary of state, insurance commissioner and state auditor by 5 percent in each of the next two years. "We have salaries that will not attract the best candidates available in our state," Commissioner Steve Smith said in explaining why those executives should receive a greater bump.
The Washington State Standard reported that Ferguson did not offer raises to thousands of state workers in recent contract talks. Thursday's action stood in contrast to the last salary-setting round in 2024, when the commission raised pay for the jobs of governor and attorney general by 14 percent over two years, with cost-of-living adjustments making up a third of the total and the rest intended to account for growing duties and rising costs of living.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons：Capitol Lake, Olympia, Washington, August 14, 2023.jpg（Public domain，United States Geological Survey (USGS)），https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Capitol_Lake,_Olympia,_Washington,_August_14,_2023.jpg
