If you’re not a member of the Massachusetts State Legislature, you’re in the wrong business.

Where else could you get retroactive pay for work you haven’t done yet?

Democrat and Republican lawmakers on Beacon Hill get stipends if they undertake leadership posts and committee chairmanships and vice chairmanships. Extra work, extra pay. According to State House News, committee chairs are in store for annual stipends of just over $22,430, and vice chair stipends this year are a bit above $7,776. Stipends for scores of other leadership posts are substantially higher.

All this is on top of the $82,046 base salary, which kicked up 11% at the start of 2025.

One problem: Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka haven’t appointed anyone to leadership posts. The bills filed in January that are waiting for committee referrals? They will have to marinate, as the committees doing the reviewing don’t have any members yet.

Committees will be formed, who knows when, and leaders will be appointed, again, who knows when, and the wheels of Massachusetts politics will grind slowly once more. But the yet-to-be-named leaders will get their stipends as if they’d been rolling up their sleeves from the get-go.

State Comptroller William McNamara’s office confirmed to the News Service that the stipends will be paid retroactively to the Jan. 1 start of the two-year session.

For legislators, it’s a sweet deal. For taxpayers, it’s another confirmation that a yes vote on the ballot question to audit the Legislature was a sound move.

The News Service asked Mariano and Spilka, through their communications teams, whether the retroactive stipend payout is warranted given that appointments haven’t been made.

“The House will soon vote on House and Joint Rules that will establish legislative committees, in addition to other reforms that will make the legislative process more efficient and more accessible,” said Mariano spokeswoman Ana Vivas.

“Shortly after, the Speaker will appoint members of his leadership team, as well as the leadership of the committees, both of which must be ratified by the Democratic Caucus. While the committee process has not yet begun, committee members will review, and issue recommendations on, each bill assigned to them throughout the two-year session, with nearly all bills being filed before appointments are made. We continue to work on a rules proposal, and look forward to releasing it soon.”

In other words, things will happen, and it will be “soon.”

Imagine someone trying that in a private-sector company. It would never fly. But (taxpayer) money is no object on Beacon Hill, and they’ll pay legislators for leading a committee now, even though they may not take up any actual work on it for weeks.

What else is going down under the baleful gaze of the Sacred Cod?

Auditor Diana DiZoglio is trying to find out in her quixotic quest to get the Legislature to open the books. The folks on Beacon Hill continue to dig in their heels.

Moves like retroactive stipend pay ahead of actual committee work isn’t doing legislators any favors in the eyes of the taxpaying public.

Lawmakers leading committees should get paid when they’re on the clock — not before.