Committee rejects legislators’ desired 43% pay increase. But they’ll still get a big raise
Idaho lawmakers will get a 29% increase in their salaries — but not as much money as legislative leadership had wanted.
The Citizens’ Committee on Legislative Compensation, made up of members appointed by Idaho’s governor and Supreme Court, met Wednesday at the Idaho Capitol to decide how much state lawmakers should be compensated for serving in the part-time legislature.
The committee first met Oct. 24 to make a decision but was forced to set a second meeting after its vote on whether to accept legislators’ initial pay proposal ended in a 3-3 tie. Committee members expressed confusion about the proposal numbers and asked for more time to consider the issue.
The committee rejected legislators’ request to increase their base pay from $19,394 to $37,801 while also eliminating stipends during the legislative session that give them $74 a day for meals. The request was supported by Republican and Democratic leadership. It would have amounted to a 43% increase in base pay after accounting for the change in meal money.
Instead, the committee voted unanimously to raise their base pay to $25,000 and keep the stipends in place, giving legislators the 29% base pay boost.
Committee member JoAnne Stringfield, who proposed the new amount, said she came to that number by calculating 40% of the median individual state employee income. Legislators’ initial proposal was 40% of Idaho’s average household income, which Springfield said was arbitrary.
The committee also voted to raise the additional pay for the speaker of the House and Senate president pro tempore from $5,000 to $5,500 and minority leaders’ additions from $2,000 to $2,500.
They reached their decision after listening to public testimony, talking to Senate Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, and discussing it among themselves.
Winder defended the proposal, saying the current salary prevents young people from running for state office.
“The salary is so low that it doesn’t attract particularly young families that can come on board to work at that level,” Winder said.
Members of the Idaho Freedom Foundation and conservative American Action Fund PAC testified against it.
“A 43% pay increase for legislators during a time of historic inflation is out of touch with what Idaho people want and the conservative values we hold true,” said Sulamita Rotante, the Idaho field manager for the conservative American Action Fund PAC.
Stringfield said it “just doesn’t make sense” financially to eliminate the stipends in favor of a larger increase because they are not taxable income for all legislators, and the state doesn’t have to pay employer taxes or benefits for them.
She noted that removing the stipends “increases the cost to the taxpayers without providing additional funds to the legislators.”
“It is considered to be, from a federal tax standpoint and a state tax standpoint, tax-deductible,” Springfield said. “Call it a business expense because that’s what I would call it.”
The pay increase will take effect in December and be guaranteed for two years.
This story was originally published November 6, 2024 at 11:49 AM.
