The House Appropriations Committee voted against a bill that would raise the salaries of lawmakers.
Republican Sen. David Gowan made a proposal to set the salaries of legislators to 60% of what the governor makes. The measure also contained other provisions, such as raising term limits to 12 consecutive years, and raising the term length of senators to four years instead of two.
Democratic Sen. Kelli Butler worried that would give Republicans an edge as they would be elected in midterms, when Democrats usually have a lower turnout.
“And so I'm wondering if that would put a little bit of a thumb on the scale to be making this change to the four-year term for senators, making it go into effect for a midterm. And I see that members are laughing at that. So that's either absurd or on the mark," Butler said.
The end of the bill means lawmakers will continue to have to get voter approval for raises. The last increase approved was in 1998.
