Pennsylvania legislators, judges and executive branch officials have cause to celebrate next month when they will receive a 1.6 percent pay increase.

The raise will go into effect on Dec. 1 for legislators and Jan. 1 for judicial and executive branch officials.

Pennsylvania state representatives are the second-highest paid in the nation behind California.

State lawmakers will see their base salary increase by $1,430 to $88,610, while the House Speaker and Senate President Pro Tempore, who will be elected in January, will now be paid $138,300.

Gov. Tom Wolf — who is the highest-paid governor in the United States — will see an increase from $194,850 to $198,000, although he donates it to charity, while Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Saylor — who has the highest state salary — will see a $3,400 increase to $217,000.

Additionally, county court judges will now make $183,000, the lieutenant governor will see an increase to $166,300 and the attorney general, auditor general and treasurer will now be paid $164,700.

A state law passed in 1995 provides automatic adjustments for members of the legislature as well as executive branch officials and state judges based on the cost of living and determined by the year-over-year percentage change in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all Urban Consumers for Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

Butler County’s elected officials said that they believed the annual increase was warranted.

“It’s based on how the economy increases. If you get an increase based on the economy, it’s appropriate,” said state Rep. Brian Ellis, R-11th. “This isn’t something we voted for, it’s built in automatically. Certainly, I understand that it’s high and that our legislature is expensive, which is why I support measures to return to a part-time legislature through a constitutional convention.”

Ellis pointed out that in some years there has been no increase or less than 1 percent pay raise. He noted that, in comparison, people on Social Security will see a 2.8 percent increase in 2019, which is the largest cost-of-living increase in seven years.

This year’s pay raise is about twice the size of last year’s increase.

In the 23 years since the pay raise plan was adopted, the CPI has either showed no change or a negative change during a given year twice. The most recent year in which that occurred was 2016.