Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2005 | 10:54 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- A proposed constitutional amendment to double the pay of lawmakers cleared its first hurdle in the Legislature on Tuesday after testimony that legislators should be paid for the days they work.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said the pay of lawmakers has not been raised since 1985. And lawmakers have been afraid to push for an increase for fear of voter backlash.
The Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections voted 5-2 to approve SJR11, a proposal that would allow the legislator to be paid for the full 120-day session, instead of having the $130-a-day salary end after 60 days. It would also scrap the limit of 20 days' pay during any special session.
The resolution, which goes to the floor of the Senate for a vote, had been approved by the 2003 Legislature. If it passes this time, the voters in 2006 will decide whether or not to ratify it. And if it passes it will become effective in the 2007 Legislature.
The committee vote was 5-2 with Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, and Sen. Valerie Weiner, D-Las Vegas, opposing. But there was no public opposition.
"People need to be paid for the time here," Janine Hansen, executive director of Eagle Forum, said. She said her group will support it in the next election.
Others also backed the proposed constitutional change.
Andrew List, executive director of the Nevada Association of Counties, said the 2003 Legislature allowed the county officials to raise their own pay. All counties did it and there was no voter backlash, he said.
"Public service does not mean poverty," he said.
The constitutional section, adopted in 1864, provided lawmakers should not be paid for more than 60 days. At that time the pay was $8 a day.
Raggio said the issue of boosting the pay has been considered many times in recent years after the last pay increase. But there has been a reluctance on the part of legislators to go forward.
That reluctance, he said, is the fallout of legislators pushing through a 300 percent increase in their pensions in the late '80s. Raggio noted he voted against the bill.
The public outcry was so strong that lawmakers asked Gov. Bob Miller to call them back into special session. They repealed the law in a one-day meeting.
Also to be repealed in this resolution is a constitutional section that limits lawmakers to $60 for the session for postage, newspapers and some other expenses. Raggio said the amount to be allowed would be set in the future by legislators. But he suggested it might be $1,000 for a session.
At present lawmakers earn $7,800 per 120-day session. That would go to $15,600, which Raggio said would cost an extra $491,000 every two years the lawmakers meet.
Raggio and other committee members said it is difficult to get good candidates to run for the Legislature, partly because they give up their professions and then get paid only for 60 days, not the full 120.
Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, said potential candidates "can't take the hit financially" to serve. He added, "Nobody expects to get rich at this," he said.
Committee Chairwoman Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, said the people she talked to believe the lawmakers should be paid for the days they serve.
The resolution was passed in 2003 by 18-3 in the Senate and 32-10 in the Assembly.
Raggio told the committee that the $8 per day started in the 1865 session and was lowered to $7 per day 20 years later. In 1915, it was raised to $10 per day and to $60 per day in 1971 and then to $130 per day in 1985. But the limit of 60 days' pay was continued.
Raggio also said "Salary is another thing we should look at," meaning adjusting the $130-a-day rate.
Raggio said once the public understands the problem, he thinks people will vote to ratify the amendment.
Besides the pay, lawmakers receive $91 per diem for the full 120 days.
Each lawmaker is allowed $2,800 for telephone expenses. They receive free letterhead paper and envelopes. A travel allowance of $6,800 is allowed to permit the legislator to return home on the weekend. Out of that $6,800, the legislators from outside the area can use up to $600 a month to pay for lodging.
Those in leadership and who are chairmen of committees receive an added $900 for the session.
In the Constitution, the lieutenant governor who presides over the Senate as well as the speaker of the Assembly each get an extra $2 per day. That would be eliminated under the proposed constitutional amendment.
archive
