Judicial Compensation Commission votes to re-submit pay and pension proposals after governor pocket-veto

The Judicial Compensation Commission voted unanimously to forward the same pay and retirement recommendations it sent last year to the New Mexico Legislature, after the governor declined to sign two pension bills that passed both chambers, commissioners said at the meeting.

The commission’s director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, Carl Ryfstek, told commissioners that last year’s legislative outcome was “a mixed bag,” and that while judges received a 4% cost-of-living increase, pension-solvency measures the commission supported were pocket-vetoed by the governor. “The good news is that pay for the justices and judges continues to be very, very competitive,” Ryfstek said, noting the 4% increase raised associate justice pay to “approximately $249,000 per year” and district court judges to “$244,900 a year.”

Why it matters: Commissioners said pension solvency and…