The Commission on Salaries on Thursday unanimously approved a series of pay raises for state officials totaling 27% for Hawaii’s governor until mid-2030, in addition to 44% overall pay increases for state legislators over five years.

State judges would see their salaries jump a total of 32% through 2030.

The first pay raises for state legislators would not begin until after the 2026 elections.

House Speaker Nadine Nakamura said it’s too soon to say whether legislators in future sessions would vote against accepting their raises.

She spoke to reporters Wednesday after she and House Finance Chair Kyle Yamashita discussed the uncertain future of the state budget amid ongoing fallout from Trump administration cuts to federal spending and the federal workforce that will affect Hawaii.

Despite the uncertainty, Yamashita said tax increases are not being considered, nor are cutbacks planned to reduce planned tax breaks over the next six years to make life more affordable for residents.

The House budget includes $200 million to cover contingencies.

By law the Legislature can turn down the Salary Commission’s annual pay recommendations before the end of each legislative session by a simple majority vote in both the House and Senate.

If not, the commission’s recommendations go into effect when each new fiscal year begins, starting July 1.

Gov. Josh Green, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and Green’s Cabinet members and their deputies would all see their first raises on July 1, along with state judges. However, Green pushed back against the initial proposed raises.

But all 51 House members and 25 senators would have their first raises — of 32% — delayed until Jan. 1, 2027, after the 2026 election cycle.

Unless they vote against them, legislators would then receive 4% annual raises for each of 2028, 2029 and 2030 for a total of 44% over three years totaling $114,348 in salary by 2030.

The House speaker and Senate president would have their salaries increase to $128,052 by 2030.

For the executive branch, the biggest pay raise — 15% — would kick in July 1 for Green, Luke, directors of state departments and their deputies.

For each of the next three years, their salaries would jump 4% through 2030 for total raises of 27% over five years.

“Tier 1” state directors are paid $188,400, and their deputies earn $173,316. “Tier 2” directors earn $179,436 and their deputies make $165,048.

Before voting unanimously to approve the raises, Salary Commission members spent much of Thursday’s meeting detailing how the amounts compare to raises and step increases guaranteed to unionized public employees in their bargaining contracts.

In their meeting last week, the Salary Commission also reviewed justifications for increasing the salaries for Hawaii’s executive branch that cited the often 24/7, round-the-clock responsibility for officials to be on call for emergencies — and the need to recruit and retain qualified talent.

But the raises were approved as residents continue to give up living in Hawaii to move to states with less expensive housing and high costs of living, even as Green and legislators work to lower costs and increase the availability of affordable housing.

So the raises for state officials already have seen public pushback, especially after the City Council in 2023 received 64% pay raises recommended by the Salary Commission, along with a nearly 12.6% raise for Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

In response, an astounding 90.3% of Honolulu voters in 2024 capped future Council pay raises at 5% annually through a City Charter amendment.

The amendment also requires any future Council salary increases to equal the average of the most recent annual salary changes for the city’s various collective bargaining units.

And voters stripped the Council’s authority to vote on its own raises.