The state is currently attempting to fix a 28-year-old legal error in the Delaware Code that would reduce benefits for future retired legislators.
This comes eight months after the previous Carney administration opted to increase pension payments for legislators as a result of the same problem.
On Tuesday, January 14, the Delaware Compensation Commission submitted their recommendations for salaries for judges, politicians, and other government officials. This was the same day that the 153rd General Assembly began.
One of their recommendations was to file a motion to correctly change the Delaware legal code so that the pension benefits of lawmakers are no longer related to the highest paying lawmaker but are instead tied to their own wages.
Early last year, it was discovered that a legislative modification that had been made in 1997 had not been properly incorporated into state law. This led to the emergence of the issue concerning the pension calculations of Delaware politicians.
The Compensation Commission suggested in 1997 that the General Assembly change the way it calculates the rewards for retiring politicians so that they are directly linked to their own wages.
Before the recommendation, the amount of money that politicians received in pension payouts was calculated by multiplying the number of years that a person had worked by the income of the retiring member who had the highest salary.
The plan was eventually enacted into law, but it did so without going through the usual legislative procedure, which involves the General Assembly reviewing and approving a measure before the governor signs it into law.
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He stated, “We thought the fact that this was recommended in 1997 was important to us, and that it was a thoughtful recommendation that ensures state legislators’ pensions are calculated in the same manner as other state employees.”
If it is put into effect, the state code will keep the current practice of linking pensions for current and retired members to the highest-paid retiring lawmaker.
However, for individuals who are elected on or after January 1, 2025, pensions would be determined monthly based on their individual earnings and years of service instead.
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Due to the recent retirement of Rep. Peter Schwartzkopf (D-Rehoboth Beach), who served as Speaker of the House for ten years, retiring politicians are anticipated to earn another increase in their payments.
The commission’s revised proposals will become law unless the General Assembly rejects them before July 1.
