Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun
The Nevada Assembly, including family and guests, stand for the invocation during the first day of the 2011 legislative session Monday, February 7, 2011 in Carson City.
Published Monday, Feb. 7, 2011 | 3:27 p.m.
Updated Monday, Feb. 7, 2011 | 4:31 p.m.
Sun Coverage
After coming under fire two years ago for failing to cut their own pay despite imposing furloughs on state workers, Nevada lawmakers passed a resolution today agreeing to forgo 4.6 percent of their salaries this session.
The resolution directs the Legislative Counsel Bureau to withhold the funds from each lawmaker’s paycheck and return the money to the state treasury. Lawmakers earn $8,777 in salary for the session, meaning $403.76 will be taken from their checks.
It will net the state $25,436.
The pay cut will not apply to lawmaker per diems. Nevada lawmakers earned an average of $39,483 in per diem during the last biennium.
Two years ago, when faced with questions about why they did nothing to cut their own pay, lawmakers had a split reaction.
The Republican caucus in the Assembly vowed to return 4.6 percent of their interim pay. Some individual Democrats voluntarily returned 4.6 percent of their salary for the last session to the state.
But Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, was somewhat defiant.
"Four percent of nothing is nothing," Oceguera told the Reno Gazette-Journal, which investigated lawmaker pay in a series that ran last year. "It seems kind of crazy. When you don't even get paid for the 60 days, it seems like a furlough in itself."
Lawmakers are only paid a salary for the first 60 days of the 120-day session.
To date, only 16 lawmakers have reimbursed the state for a portion of their salary from the last session and interim. They all gave varying amounts. Lawmakers are paid during the interim only when they attend a committee meeting.
Of the 14 Assembly Republicans who promised to reimburse salary, only eight have, according to an accounting by the Legislative Counsel Bureau.
The following lawmakers have reimbursed the state for a portion of their salary:
Sen. Shirley Breeden, D-Las Vegas: $403.76
Former Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas: $404
Former Assemblyman Ty Cobb, R-Reno: $52.67
Assemblyman Marilyn Dondero Loop, D-Las Vegas: $403.76
Former Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert, R-Reno: $215.38
Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley: $526.65
Assemblyman Tom Grady, R-Yerington: $60.56
Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City: $1,150
Sen. Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas: $400
Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno: $403.76
Assemblyman Richard McArthur, R-Las Vegas: $84
Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas: $403.76
Sen. James Settelmeyer, R-Gardnerville: $174.98
Sen. Valerie Weiner, D-Las Vegas: $400
Former Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D-Las Vegas: $400
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