A fight is brewing over whether Albany lawmakers should return to the state capitol for a special legislative session before the end of the year. NY1's Grace Rauh filed the following report.
State lawmakers may be heading back to Albany for a special session before the new year. The draw is the possibility of a pay raise, which they have not had in 17 years.
But Governor Andrew Cuomo says if the Assembly and Senate are going to reconvene they need to take care of some other items at the same time.
"That's very nice, you want to come back to give yourselves a raise. I understand that," Cuomo said Wednesday. "There's also some work we want to do for the public that I want to get done."
Cuomo's wish list includes ethics reforms, funding for the governor's Hate Crimes Task Force and more money to fight homelessness.
But some lawmakers are bristling at the idea that any possible pay raise be linked to other legislation.
"Trying to tie any other legislative issue with the potential of raising legislators' salaries, I think it's problematic at best and potentially illegal at worst," says Bronx Assemblyman Victor Pichardo.
State Senator Liz Krueger says she is opposed to returning to Albany for a special session, even if it leads to more money for her. She says she is concerned about the likelihood that legislation will get pushed through with little oversight.
"I have a very cynical view of my state capitol, which I am proud to serve in, that anything that is thrown at us at the last second and packaged when it has no relationship to each other, always have some poison pills," says Krueger.
As for the pay raise, lawmakers have the ability to vote a salary increase through themselves, but they've been reluctant to do that because they think it would look bad. Instead, they created a pay commission to study the issue. Last month, it deadlocked. It said lawmakers deserved a modest raise, but needed to accept a ban on outside income before getting anything more.