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Paying Legislators Differently
A saying that has gotten a lot of traction over the last few years goes something like “doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.” And so it is with the legislature. Ask almost anyone and they’ll have some complaint about the legislature. Well, the legislature will remain the same until we change something. Today’s article in the Trib on legislative pay is a good example.
As I can make out from the article, legislators currently make $120 day, but when you throw in per diem it goes up to $238. With benefits thrown in the cost to taxpayers is closer to $600 per day. That’s a whopping benefit’s package.
One of my complaints about the legislature as a body has been that it’s not really a cross section of society. Rather its mostly lawyers, financial planners, small businesspeople, ranchers, teachers, and housewives. If you look at them as a group, they’re largely the people who can afford to take a few months off every year without their base salary being affected. They’re also the people who can most use a large benefits package. The exceptions serve at a much higher sacrifice for their public service.
So, here’s a proposal: Let’s pay legislators “make-up” wages and benefits, along with reasonable per diem if they live more than 50 miles from the Capitol. Under my proposal, if my employer pays me while I serve in the legislature, the state pays me nothing. If my employer doesn’t pay me, but allows me to serve, the state pays me what my employer would have paid me, dollar for dollar. Some provision for fairly estimating the pay due the self-employed would have to be made. No provision would be make for “lost opportunities” since we expect that everyone suffers equally there and it’s hard to figure.
In the end, we want people to serve without undue monetary reward or sacrifice. This proposal would do that. I think it would also have a significant impact on the make-up of the legislature and make it more representative of the society as a whole.
Posted by windley on October 5, 2005 06:35 AM
