Bill
HD 3875
The bill would automatically raise judicial pay and pensions each year by the Northeast CPI-U, starting July 1, 2025.
HD 3875 proposes automatic, inflation-linked increases to judicial compensation and related pension adjustments. The bill ties annual increases in judicial pay and certain retirement benefits to the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Workers in the Northeast Region, beginning July 1, 2025 and continuing each year thereafter. It covers judges across the state's court system and extends a CPI-based adjustment to pensions for senior justices who have reached the mandatory retirement age.
Section 1: Amends Section 22 of Chapter 211 to provide that judicial compensation shall be increased at the same rate as the Northeast Urban CPI-U, commencing July 1, 2025, and each year thereafter.
Section 2: Adds a parallel provision to Section 2 of Chapter 211A, stating that compensation within this chapter also shall increase at the same CPI-U Northeast rate starting July 1, 2025 and annually thereafter.
Section 3: Adds a parallel provision to Section 4 of Chapter 211B, applying the same CPI-U Northeast adjustment to compensation under this chapter starting July 1, 2025 and every year after.
Section 4: Adds new Section 65k to Chapter 32. This section provides that all justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Appeals Court, and the trial court departments who have reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 shall be entitled to an adjustment to their annual pension, with the pension increased at the same CPI-U Northeast rate starting July 1, 2025 and continuing annually.
Judicial officers: Supreme Judicial Court justices, Appeals Court justices, and trial court department justices, whose compensation would be adjusted annually according to CPI-U Northeast starting in 2025.
Retired/senior judges: Justices who have reached the mandatory retirement age (70) would see pension adjustments aligned with the same inflation measure.
Inflation-Indexing: The bill adopts an automatic, annual inflation adjustment tied to the CPI-U Northeast, rather than periodic discretionary increases.
Effective/start date: The CPI-based adjustments are set to commence July 1, 2025, with annual adjustments thereafter (subject to the bill’s passage and any later statutory conventions).
Ongoing costs: By linking compensation and pensions to CPI, the state would experience year-to-year changes in compensation and pension costs aligned with inflation.
This summary focuses on the substantive changes the bill would make and who would be affected, along with the basic procedural context.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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