Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says he doesn’t know yet if there will be a special December session of the legislature, but he says if it happens he’d like to raise the minimum wage and lawmakers’ pay, as well as act on some other measures.
Speaker Silver says he’d like to further increase the state’s minimum wage, and give legislators ,as well as Cuomo Administration commissioners, their first pay raise in 15 years. He says he would be open to linking the pay raise to a reform of the legislature's per diem expense system. The Speaker says he also wants to create a fund for infrastructure, like road and bridge repair, from the one time $5 billion dollar surplus due to recent bank settlements.
“It’s a one shot revenue, it should be a one shot expenditure,” Silver said.
Silver says the windfall surplus should not be part of the state budget.
The Speaker says lawmakers also need to act to approve funds for medical professionals traveling to Africa to help fight Ebola.