Written by Carol Ostrow

Illinois lawmakers are using a seemingly surreptitious way to give themselves pay raises: creating new and useless committees for which they are automatically paid an extra $10,326 as chairmen, a Chicago-based think tank is arguing.

The Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) says that legislation enacted in the House in January created 12 new standing committees, bringing the total to 45.

“In Illinois, bloat doesn’t discriminate,” senior writer Austin Berg wrote on the group’s website.