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HARRISBURG -- A pay raise for state lawmakers of at least $10,000 a year is under consideration as the General Assembly wraps up business before a 2 1/2-month summer recess, legislative leadership officials said Wednesday.

A $10,000 hike is considered by some as the minimum for a raise. Rank-and-file legislators are paid $69,647 a year; House and Senate leaders get more. The raise would be in addition to the automatic increase all legislators get annually based on the rate of inflation.

Senate and House leadership officials confirmed that the proposed increase is being discussed. Details are thin, and talks happen behind closed doors.

A pay hike is a long way from becoming reality because it requires a green light from Gov. Ed Rendell.

Rendell would consider supporting a raise, but the proposal must "stand on its own merit," said his spokeswoman, Kate Philips. The governor hasn't seen a proposal yet, Philips said.

"I don't know that it's going to happen," said Rep. Don Walko, D-North Side. "I haven't been talked to about it by one leader. Many of my colleagues and I are reluctant to do it." Asked why, Walko said, "It's a tough vote."

"It's all rumors -- and some meetings," Walko said.

Based on precedent, any pay boost likely would include Rendell, top state officials and the judiciary.

Rendell's salary is $155,572 a year. Pay for his department secretaries ranges from $112,103 to $124,458. Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll's salary is $130,679. State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ralph Cappy is paid $154,447, and other justices on the high court are paid $150,436.

While Pennsylvania lawmakers are paid $69,647, their leaders make much more on a graduated scale based on their positions. The top leaders, Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona, and House Speaker John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, are paid $108,722.

Also, legislators are allowed to make money from their outside professions. Many are attorneys, businessmen and farmers. As legislative salaries have gone up over the past two decades, more legislators have made the General Assembly their only job.

Pennsylvania lawmakers' salaries ranked fourth in a 2003 survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver. California led with $99,000 salaries. Pennsylvania legislators' salaries at that time were $64,678. Kia Chi, a political scientist at the Council of State Governments, said Pennsylvania's current $69,647 still ranks fourth.

When Pennsylvania legislators last raised their pay in 1995, they established the automatic annual inflationary increases. Lawmakers said then that would eliminate the need to seek future raises.

Based on inflation, top state officials received a 2.4 percent boost last year and a 5.2 percent increase for this year.

The raise talks are an attempt to revive discussions that faltered at the end of the 2003-04 legislative session in November. Now, as in November, there could be an effort to link state salaries to comparable federal positions.

The key question now is what Rendell would want in return for signing a pay hike bill.

Rendell said earlier this month that if legislators want a raise, they would have to increase the state's $5.15 minimum hourly wage. That did not appear to be under serious consideration yesterday in the Legislature.

Philips said that other issues would not be linked to a pay hike.

G. Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster County, said he's not sure what Rendell would want. "It may not be a specific quid pro quo," but rather agreements on several issues, he said.

Rendell's needs range from a financial fix for the state's Medicaid program -- which faces a $400 million deficit -- to finding a way for most school districts in the state to get slot machine money to reduce property taxes, according to Madonna.

Four-fifths of the state's school boards declined to accept gambling money that will be available -- perhaps by 2007 -- for property tax cuts. The General Assembly last July authorized slot machines at 14 locations across the state.

Others have speculated that high on Rendell's list is approval of legislation to implement the Growing Greener bond-financed initiative that voters approved in May. Madonna said Growing Greener "is a bit more nebulous."

The door is wide open on these types of negotiations, Madonna said.

The Legislature faces a deadline today to approve a state budget for 2006. Legislators could extend the session through the Fourth of July weekend.

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