Texas House, Senate Clash Over Judicial Pay Amendment Concerning Lawmaker Retirement Pensions

This legislative session had room for one more bit of fireworks before sine die, when the Texas Senate voted for a bill to raise judicial pay but stripped House language that untied their own pensions from the salary increase.

The issue of a judicial pay raise — which judges haven’t been since 2013 — has become contentious in sessions past, though not because of the judges themselves. Pension funds for elected officials are a factor of 2.3 percent of the base judicial pay, which is currently $140,000. When legislators tried to give a base salary increase for state judges last session, they were assailed for wanting to goose their own pensions. Ultimately, no judicial pay raise passed because of it.