A Republican state senator is proposing a ballot measure to boost the pay of Arizona lawmakers.
Sen. John Kavanagh’s proposal would ask voters to tie lawmakers’ annual salary to the rate of inflation. Legislators are paid $24,000 a year.
"A lot of people don't have the ability to get full-time jobs for the rest of the year that would pay as much as most people's full-time jobs. There aren't many people looking around for half-time workers," Kavanagh said.
The legislative session is only supposed to last 100 days but is often longer. The state constitution originally set lawmaker pay at $7 a day which, when adjusted for inflation, is slightly less than the current legislative salary.
The issue of legislative pay is complex.
Under the Arizona Constitution, voters get the last word on their salaries.
The way the system is designed is that the Commission on Salaries for Elective State Officers is supposed to meet on a biennial basis. And among its chores is to make recommendations for legislative salaries and ask voters to approve them.
The panel did make such recommendations in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 — all rejected by voters.
Then-Gov. Jan Brewer refused to name members to the panel for four years, saying it was inappropriate to consider pay hikes for elected officials during "difficult times.'' She did finally make selections in time for 2014 -- though she openly opposed that proposal to boost pay to $35,000. It fared even worse than the others, with just 32% of voters approving the plan.
Since then, however, the commission has made no recommendations.
History of legislative pay
- Original 1912 Arizona Constitution: $7 per day
- 1932 initiative: $8 per day
- 1958 referendum: $3,600 per year
- 1968 referendum: $6,000
- 1980 referral by salary commission approved by voters increased to $15,000
- 1998 referral by salary commission approved by voters increase to current $24,000
