Montgomery, AL – Alabama's Troy King is now the nation's highest paid state attorney general.
The former No. 1, California Attorney General Jerry Brown, took a pay cut that moved King into first place. Brown dropped from slightly more than $184,000 to $151,000 on Monday.
A national ranking of pay for attorneys general shows King now tops Brown at $168,000.
King's chief of staff, Chris Bence, said King doesn't control his own pay. A law passed by the Legislature in 1969 sets the attorney general's pay equal to the associate justices on the Alabama Supreme Court. It has moved the attorney general's salary higher than states such as New York and California even though they are much more populous and Alabama is traditionally among the poorer, low-wage states.
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