Gov. Linda Lingle today signed a bill into law that reduces pay for the governor, lieutenant governor, department directors, judges and state lawmakers by 5 percent and freezes their salaries through June 2011.

Lingle and state House and Senate leaders have described the bill as an attempt to lead by example as state workers are likely facing wage and healthcare benefit cuts in collective bargaining negotiations.
The governor signed the bill one day after announcing that, starting in July, state workers would have to take three furlough days a month for the next two years to help close the state’s budget deficit. The furloughs are equivalent to a 13.8 percent pay cut for state workers and would save the state $688 million.
Pay raises for state lawmakers were the subject of populist anger on talk radio and newspaper opinion pages during a session when the governor and lawmakers were forced to cut state spending because of the recession.
Lingle initially urged lawmakers to give up a 36 percent raise that took effect in January but quickly backed away from the issue after realizing that executive and judicial branch leaders had already received large pay raises, while lawmakers had not.
A state salary commission, approved by voters in 2006, recommended 5 percent raises for the executive branch in July 2007 and another 5 percent in July 2008. Judges received a 10 percent pay increase in July 2007 and a 3.5 percent increase in July 2008.