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

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.

A state law passed in 1995 provides automatic adjustments for members of the state 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.

This is an excerpt — read the Butler officials have said in Tuesday's Butler Eagle.