Posted: | December 11, 2014 11:34 AM |
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From: | Representative Eli Evankovich |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | COLA Changes to House (Former HB 786) |
We, as elected Members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, collectively hail from different backgrounds, with diverse life-perspectives, and have a variety of reasons for running for public office. Together we have the responsibility to fulfill the duties of our office to the best of our ability. In return, to the best of my knowledge, all of us receive compensation from the Taxpayers of Pennsylvania. Based on a decision made by a prior General Assembly, our compensation increases every year through a Cost-Of-Living-Adjustment (COLA), regardless of job performance measures. The most tangible job performance evaluation happens with every even-numbered year election, when the voters have an opportunity to approve or disapprove of our performance. Many members of the General Assembly return the COLA to the State Treasury or donate it to charity specifically for this and other reasons, particularly in these difficult economic times. In the near future, I intend to re-introduce former HB 786, legislation that amends the act governing compensation for members of the General Assembly to shift all COLA adjustments to occur bi-annually on December 1st of each even-numbered year after an election. By changing the COLA increase to only apply at the start of a term, this legislation will allow our constituents to evaluate our performance before cost of living adjustments are made to Member compensation. |