Ohio lawmakers to get pay raise after overriding Gov. Kasich veto

Senate Bill 296 calls for lawmakers receiving a 4 percent pay increase in 2020, 3 percent in 2021 and 1.75 percent each year between 2022 to 2028. Their current base pay of $60,584 would increase to $73,167 by 2028. Stipends for leadership and committee chairmanship posts would also be increased. It would be the first pay raise in a decade.

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It also included raises for judges, county officials, statewide officers and other elected leaders. Judges, sheriffs and prosecutors would be in line for 1.75 percent pay increases each year for 2020 to 2028; other county officeholders would receive 5 percent raises in 2019 and 2020, followed by 1.75 percent increases from 2021 to 2028; township officers and board of election members would receive 1.75 percent each year from 2019 to 2028.

The bill also creates a nine-member pay advisory committee to annually review public official pay issues.

In the lame-duck session, legislators attached the pay hike provisions to a bill that would have provided health benefits for the families of fallen first responders.

State Sen. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, the bill sponsor, said Kasich is taking out his frustration with the General Assembly, which failed to enact some of the governor’s priorities, such as gun control.

After getting notice from Kasich’s office, Hottinger said in a tweet: “Too bad he couldn’t support electeds who worked during his 4 years MIA.”

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The House and Senate are scheduled to meet next week, when they could consider overriding Kasich’s veto.

An override requires 20 votes in the Senate and 60 in the House. The bill passed both chambers with more than those thresholds.

“It’s unfortunate that he couldn’t allow this bill to become law and we’re going to work hard to get it overridden,” said Jay McDonald, past president of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police. “The fallen officers and their families deserve better than this and we need to remember them, especially this time of year.”