Senate President Nicholas Scutari, who serves as the state’s chief executive during the absence of the governor and lieutenant governor, signed a bill Thursday that increases the salaries of district attorneys and some judges and allows prosecutors to receive a judge’s pension in addition to paying their full salary.

The billwhich passed both chambers in June in votes that ran almost entirely along party lines, will raise district attorneys’ salaries to $204,167, retroactively to the beginning of 2024.

“Our judges and district attorneys work extremely hard every day to ensure the highest level and quality of justice is administered here in New Jersey,” Scutari (D-Union) said in a statement. “Passing this bill allows us to maintain competitive salaries and retirement benefits for these officers.”

The bill also provides for these salaries to be adjusted to the increase in the consumer price index for at least three years.

This provision extends the cost-of-living adjustments included in existing law through early 2025, but not beyond. The previous increases were enacted by a law signed by Governor Phil Murphy in 2018.

The salary increases are expected to cost the state $135,900 in the current and subsequent fiscal years (July through June), $275,193 in the two subsequent fiscal years and $367,697 in the following years, according to a budget memo from the Office of Legislative Services.

“This will help attract and retain qualified professionals to serve as prosecutors and judges,” said bill sponsor and Senator Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) in a statement.

Prosecutors who receive pension rights from the judges’ pension scheme may not simultaneously acquire rights from another state pension scheme.

The bill also provides for a salary increase for New Jersey’s chief appellate judges from $215,546 to $218,546.

The law allows prosecutors who have acquired pension rights as judges to draw on those pensions while serving as district prosecutors, which is not possible under current legislation.

Other provisions allow prosecutors to earn pension benefits based on previous work as a law clerk for a New Jersey judge. This “will help New Jersey’s judicial system attract and retain top talent who have valuable experience working in a state court,” said bill sponsor Sen. Brian Stack (D-Hudson).

It is unclear how many of New Jersey’s 21 district attorneys will benefit from the pension rule change.

Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez served as a Passaic County Superior Court judge for five years before being confirmed as prosecutor in 2015, and Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella clerked for former Superior Court Judge Ralph Polito.

Scutari is serving as acting governor while Gov. Phil Murphy and Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way are in Chicago attending the Democratic convention. Scutari attended the convention earlier this week but returned Thursday to take the helm of the administration. Murphy and Way are expected to return Friday morning.