Bill seeks huge hike in lawmakers’ pensions

Thursday, Jan. 30, 1997 | 5:01 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Undeterred by the public outcry of 1989, Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, says it's time to sweeten the pensions of state lawmakers.

Neal has sponsored a bill, SB67, that could boost the retirement pay for lawmakers by as much as 279 percent. He introduced a similar bill two years ago and it died in the Senate Finance Committee, where it was referred this session.

Neal, with 25 years in the Senate, now qualifies for a $625-a-month pension. Under his bill, it would increase to $1,745. But he says it wouldn't affect him because it wouldn't take effect until 1999.

He said he doubts legislators are "gun shy" of a pension increase. "Some people are interested," he said.

But Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, who has opposed pension increases in the past, said he would vote against it again. It's a problem of perception, O'Donnell said. The lawmakers are voting on their own salaries -- the only body in the state to do so.

"When you vote on your own salary, you're history," O'Donnell said. He wants to see an independent agency set the salary of lawmakers. There's no doubt legislators are underpaid, he said.

"The problem is we are the only branch of government that votes on our own salaries," O'Donnell said. "We raise other salaries to the hilt and nobody says anything."

O'Donnell said the problem might be fixed by letting the state Board of Examiners, composed of the governor, attorney general and secretary of state, to set the pay and benefits for legislators.

Meanwhile, the board of directors of Common Cause has a meeting scheduled for today and the legislative pension issue is expected to be discussed. The organization strongly opposed prior pension increases.

The same bill didn't get any support two years ago as lawmakers remembered the 300 percent retirement increase they passed in 1989. It was vetoed by Gov. Bob Miller but the lawmakers overrode the veto.

There was an uproar from the public and Common Cause started a voter petition to repeal the law. Lawmakers, afraid of their chances for re-election, agreed to a special session and repealed the law. But it became a campaign issue and some legislators were defeated largely as a result.

Neal says the legislators have not received a pay increase for a long time and the job gets more demanding. "Our workload does not stop when we go home," he said.

A legislator must serve 10 years before qualifying for a pension, which allocates $25 for each year of service.

The Neal plan averages the salaries of the governor and the justices of the Nevada Supreme Court and then divides that figure in two. That figure would then be multiplied by 1.7 percent for each year of service up to 30 years.

A legislator with 12 years gets $300 a month and it would rise to around $800 a month. The constitutional amendment passed by voters last November limits a legislator to 12 years in one house but he or she could serve another 12 years in the other house.

Neal said even though the Legislature only meets every two years, the lawmakers put in almost as much time as the governor and the Supreme Court.