HARRISBURG – Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York) announced today that she has returned her 2024 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to the state treasury, continuing her commitment to government accountability and transparency. This marks the fourth year in which Phillips-Hill has declined the annual adjustment provided to Pennsylvania legislators, executive officials, including the governor, and judges.
The COLA, which is automatically applied under state law passed in 1995, increases salaries for government officials to account for inflation.
“At a time when families across York County and the Commonwealth are making tough financial decisions, it is only fair that we hold ourselves to the same standard,” Phillips-Hill said. “As families face rising costs and carefully manage their pocketbooks, it is my duty to ensure that their hard-earned tax dollars are treated with the same level of care. Rejecting the automatic COLA is one small way I can demonstrate that accountability starts with me.”
In 2020, lawmakers and former Gov. Tom Wolf supported an initiative to suspend the automatic COLA. Since the passage of that law, Phillips-Hill has consistently returned her annual COLA to the state Treasury, where it is put back into the General Fund.
Phillips-Hill has long advocated for greater reforms to improve government efficiency and fiscal responsibility, leading efforts to make Harrisburg more transparent and accountable to the people it serves. Her decision to return the 2024 COLA is part of a broader effort to restore trust in public institutions and demonstrate that elected officials work for the citizens they represent.
“Serving the people of York County is my greatest honor, and I will continue to challenge the status quo to ensure that state government leads by example,” Phillips-Hill added.
Throughout her tenure in the Senate, Phillips-Hill opted out of the state’s pension program and does not accept health insurance benefits from the Senate. She commutes to and from Harrisburg in her own vehicle without accepting mileage reimbursement.
In 2021, she led the effort to have all Senate expenditures posted on a publicly accessible website, rather than forcing taxpayers to file Right-to-Know requests. She consistently posts her office expenditures to her website.