Fewer Hawaii lawyers are applying to become judges, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald attributes the troubling trend largely to judges’ salaries.

Recktenwald argued Friday to the state Salary Commission for higher pay for judges, saying their salaries lag too far behind the large sums lawyers can earn in private practice.

House Speaker Nadine Nakamura made a similar argument in her request to the committee for higher pay for members of the Hawaii Legislature. She said only about 125 people show up every two years to run for the 51 seats in the House of Representatives.

“It tells you that it’s not something that people are dying to run for, and I think one of the main reasons is the level of wages, the low wages,” she said. declared to the salary commission.

THE Wages commission composed of seven members has begun a series of meetings to consider whether to raise the salaries of state judges, legislators and others. The commission meets every six years and is expected to submit a salary proposal to the Legislature before the end of the 2025 session.

The commission, chaired by former Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, has the authority to propose raises for the governor and lieutenant governor, state department heads and their deputies, the governor’s chief of staff and judges and state judges.

Any approved increase will automatically take effect unless the House and Senate both pass a resolution denying the higher salaries. The commission salary proposals have been controversial at times, including during the pandemic.

Recktenwald said the state has about 80 judges and is struggling to fill vacancies in some courts, including the chief judge of the busy Intermediate Court of Appeals. In some cases, “they have to constantly apply for these positions,” he said.

The state is at a crossroads in its ability to attract and retain top judges, he said, with the state’s Circuit Court judge salaries among the lowest in the country when the we take into account the high cost of living in Hawaii.

Under the current scale, Circuit Court judges are to receive $217,104 in 2025. The salary of the chief judge will be $248,124.

Parliament only sits from January to May, but Nakamura and Senate President Ron Kouchi argued Friday that being a lawmaker is a full-time job. Members of the House and Senate face busy schedules year-round to respond to constituent concerns and other questions, they said.

Members of the House and Senate receive $72,348 per year, which will increase to $74,160 in 2025 under the current pay schedule. The Senate President and House Speaker each receive $81,024, which will automatically increase to $83,052 in 2025.

“What we need to do is attract and make sure that we can make this work a really livable wage, which is very difficult to do with the current wage,” Nakamura said.

Gov. Josh Green’s staff did not raise concerns Friday about state department heads’ pay.

Green’s chief of staff, Brooke Wilson, told the committee that Green’s transition team received about 400 applications for leadership positions in the new administration after Green’s 2022 election.

“We were happy with the amount of interest we received,” Wilson said. Under the current scale, the salaries of the 17 state department heads range from $179,436 to $188,400 in 2025.

The commission has not yet discussed specific salary increase proposals. It will meet for further discussions on state wages on December 6.