Last month, the Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation released its report on judicial compensation, recommending salary increases over the next four years for New York state judges. The Commission’s recommendations have the force and effect of law and will take effect on April 1, 2016, unless abrogated by the Legislature. The adoption of these recommendations builds upon the recommendations of the predecessor commission in 2011 in finally ending a decades-long period in which the process for fixing judicial compensation in New York has lacked fairness, regularity and objectivity. This result should be applauded not just by judges but by all who care about our state’s justice system.

The Commission was established by statute to determine judicial salaries in a way that is independent and removed from the political process. Four years ago, the first quadrennial commission created by the Legislature broke what had been a staggering 12-year freeze on judicial salaries. Prior to 2012, judges’ salaries had been stagnant, without a single adjustment for inflation or cost of living since 1999. New York had sunk to dead last in the nation in judicial compensation adjusted for cost of living. The financial pressures that situation created drove some of our best judges from the bench, and it surely dissuaded numerous highly qualified candidates from considering judicial service in the first place.

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