Just as lawmakers are putting down their right hands from being sworn in for the new term, they’ve decided to take up a two-year-old report that portrays them as woefully underpaid and recommends hefty raises all around, hikes that would push compensation for constitutional officers and legislative leadership near the top among all states.

While there is no good timing to take up a self-awarded pay increase with taxpayer money, the optics of doing so at the outset of a new term ratchets up the cynicism meter to the max. The question comes, will Gov. Charlie Baker save them from themselves?

The backdrop was laid out very clearly by the Globe’s Michael Levenson, who tied the potential increases to recent budget cuts and the stagnation of wages.

The report from the Special Advisory Commission Regarding the Compensation of Public Officials was issued less than a month after the 2014 elections but the public outcry forced legislators to hold off on acting on the report. It was similar to a 2008 report that made comparable, if somewhat scaled back, arguments and recommendations on salary increases for the Legislature, again tying it in with hikes across the board for constitutional officers and judges.

The Joint Committee on Ways and Means, which is made up of the members of the Ways and Means committees in both branches, will take up the report Thursday, apparently thinking sufficient time has passed to take up the issue. But with no other committees formed just yet, the joint committee will be among the most watched and best attended hearings.

Under a constitutional amendment passed by voters nearly 20 years ago, the governor determines pay raises – or decreases – for the Legislature and, in turn, constitutional officers, based on the median household income. Lawmakers took a cut in 2011 and 2013 and stayed stagnant in 2015. In December, Baker authorized a 4.1 percent increase, bringing the salary of lawmakers up to $62,547. They also receive a $7,200 stipend for expenses that requires no documentation as well as per diems. Many lawmakers also hold leadership, chairman, and vice chairman posts that pay between $7,500 and $25,000 extra. The Speaker and Senate President earn $35,000 more for their positions, which the report says are akin to chairman of a board of directors or chief operating officers.

“Both positions wield enormous authority over the budget, operations of state government, and legislation, and both positions, along with that of governor, require those who hold the positions to be on-call at all times,” the report says.

But while the report ties in a raise for the Legislature with the governor and other constitutional officers, Baker has already said he’ll turn it down, like he did with the most recent increase. He sent out a signal that can be read as either a challenge or an opening, depending on your read of “carefully review.”

When the report was first issued in 2014, Baker said then that impending budget cuts would lead him to likely veto any measure for salary increases. With nearly $100 million already slashed from this year’s budget and projections of a half-billion or more gap projected for the new fiscal year in July amid anemic tax collections, odds aren’t in the Legislature’s favor that Baker has had a change of heart. Couple that with an upcoming reelection bid about the time the raises would go into effect and it would be difficult to see the fiscally conservative Republican wanting his signature on a measure giving Democrats a healthy pay increase, which, in turn, means a healthy pension increase.

Part of the conundrum for lawmakers is that any changes in base salary have to be amended in the state constitution. But they can increase the stipends for expenses and leadership positions through legislation. The report recommends eliminating the per diem allowances for lawmakers and increasing the $7,200 expense stipend to $10,000 or $15,000, depending on where a legislator lives. And while there are no recommendations for dollar amounts in the report, the authors point out that the $35,000 stipend for Speaker and Senate President enacted 35 years ago should be about $86,000 when adjusted for inflation.

Those changes are within the Legislature’s power and they easily have the votes to override any threat of a Baker veto. But, one might ask, do they want to feel the wrath of voters for what will surely be portrayed as an unabashed money grab? If lawmakers take up the recommendations of the report, it will be pointed out time and time again that the increases place the constitutional officers either first or second in the country for pay and House Speaker and Senate President as a runaway first.

–JACK SULLIVAN

BEACON HILL

Gov. Charlie Baker’s plan to assess fines on employers that don’t provide prescribed levels of health insurance to their workers is decried by business groups as a tax. (State House News)

Moody’s to pay $12 million to Massachusetts to settle charges of deceptive, fraudulent credit rating practices dating back to 2001.

Advocates are worried that Beacon Hill leaders may pursue more changes to the state’s new marijuana law beyond the already approved six-month delay in the scheduled opening of retail pot shops. (Boston Globe)

A Globe editorial grudgingly says the state lottery needs to move beyond its current cash-only sales policy to keep up with the way people spend money. State officials say eSports (think professionals playing Call of Duty) is the next big gambling thing. (State House News)

A new state task force will review all aspects of the Commonwealth’s liquor laws, a process likely to be heavily influenced by various stakeholders wary of changes that could damage their interests. (Boston Globe)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh delivers his third State of the City address, pledging an ambitious school building program and vowing to try to make universal, high-quality pre-kindergarten available by tapping a state revenue fund. (Boston Globe) Walsh touts his plans in Globe op-ed this morning.

Opponents of Boston’s failed IndyCar race say the debacle might have been avoided if lobbying disclosure rules now being considered had been in place, which would have shown the heavy involvement of former campaign aides to Walsh. (Boston Herald)

Two administrators with the Fall River Housing Authority have been suspended without pay following allegations of harassment and retaliation by union workers, charges the pair vehemently denies. (Herald News)

City planners in Danvers unveil mixed-use plans for a gritty industrial area. (Salem News)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Betsy DeVos, the nominee to become education secretary, gets grilled by Democrats in confirmation hearings on her thin resume in the field and conservative views. (Boston Globe)

US Rep. Richard Neal, the ranking minority member of the House Ways and Means Committee, says his goals are clear: save Social Security, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act from Republican attacks. (Berkshire Eagle)

ELECTIONS

Lawrence City Councilor Modesto Maldonaldo challenges Mayor Daniel Rivera on the city’s legal spending, saying much of the money is wasted. Maldonaldo is planning to run against Rivera. (Eagle-Tribune)

City Councilor Tito Jackson, who announced last week he is running against Boston Mayor Marty Walsh this fall, says he spoke with former governor Deval Patrick and asked for his support, but says only that Patrick was “encouraging.” (Boston Herald)

Rep. Joseph Kennedy III addresses a group of grumpy Democrats in Newton. (Boston Herald) The crowd gave Democratic Party chair Gus Bickford a hard time. (Politico)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera hosts an event with the CEO of New Balance to showcase that his city has the space and the workers to suit many employers. Officials said it only takes 340 new jobs to cut the city’s unemployment rate by 1 percentage point. (Eagle-Tribune)

Wahlburgers, the outlet founded by the Dorchester-born Wahlberg brothers, is placing a big bet on China with huge expansion plans there. (Boston Globe)

EDUCATION

In what appears to be a first-in-the-nation proposal, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo has put in her budget a plan for two years of free tuition to the state’s public colleges for any state student in good standing regardless of income. (Providence Journal)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued an analysis that says repeal of the Affordable Care Act could eliminate health insurance for 18 million people in the first year. (U.S. News & World Report)

TRANSPORTATION

The next MBTA board needs to include municipalities who have skin in the game, says James Aloisi in part two of a series. (CommonWealth) The first part in Aloisi’s two-part series on T governance is here.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Eversource seeks a big increase in its distribution rates and approval to launch a slew of environmentally friendly policies. (CommonWealth)

Two dampers designed to close in an emergency to prevent radioactive emissions escaping into the environment at Pilgrim nuclear power plant failed to shut during a routine test. The dampers closed after being cleaned and lubricated but officials are unsure how long the problem existed before being discovered. (Cape Cod Times)

The Earth set a temperature record for the third year in a row. (New York Times)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

The Supreme Judicial Court has ordered prosecutors around the state to drop the weakest drug cases related to Annie Dookhan and her manipulating results in the state crime lab. (Boston Globe)

President Obama has commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst known as Bradley Manning before becoming a woman. Manning was serving a 35-year sentence for turning over to Wikileaks hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents. (New York Times) In addition to the 209 commutations he issued, Obama pardoned 64 people, including baseball Hall of Famer Willie McCovey, who had been convicted of tax evasion in 1995 for not reporting income from memorabilia shows. (ESPN)

A Bellingham woman has filed suit against the Department of Correction for the death of her daughter who died in 2014 while in MCI-Framingham following her arrest in a prostitution sting. (MetroWest Daily News)

A former Hingham police sergeant was granted early parole and will be released from jail at the end of next month after serving just half of his six-month sentence for medical insurance fraud. (Patriot Ledger)

MEDIA

The Washington Post launches a big expansion into video and appears to be considering some sort of takeoff on the Daily Show, a humorous take on the news. (Nieman Journalism Lab)