Kansas House approves a commission to study pay rates for members of the Legislature
The Kansas House approved a bill Thursday that would place an independent commission in control of pay for members of the Legislature.
Pay for state lawmakers has been stagnant at $88.66 for more than a decade.
The House voted 95 to 27 to pass a bill that wouldn’t directly affect pay but would create a commission that has the authority to change compensation for lawmakers.
If approved by the Senate, a commission of citizens and former lawmakers would study legislative compensation and issue its first recommendation on compensation levels in 2025.
The Legislature would then abide by the commission’s recommendation unless both the House and Senate voted to reject it.
Previous efforts to increase legislative pay have failed to gain traction in Kansas because of fears among lawmakers that they’ll be attacked while facing reelection for voting to raise their own pay.
But lawmakers say there is broad support for a reevaluation of the pay rate because the low pay rate makes it more difficult for young and low-income Kansans to run for office and retain their seats for any extended period of time.
“The only thing that should prevent someone from serving in Topeka is the will of the voters. Not the ability to afford it,” Speaker Pro Tem Blake Carpenter, a Derby Republican, said during a debate on the issue Wednesday.
He argued that the average Kansan doesn’t have the authority to raise their own pay and that the commission approach would allow for discussion about appropriate compensation without the Legislature having to decide their own rates.
Rep. Rui Xu, a Westwood Democrat, spoke in favor of the bill noting that he had taken a 70% pay cut since entering the Legislature in 2018.
He said he’s been able to stitch together contract work but that “it’s not easy and it’s not stable.”
But some were opposed. Rep. Pat Proctor, a Fort Leavenworth Republican, said that Kansas lawmakers needed to have “some skin in the game.” Unlike representatives in the U.S. Congress, Proctor said Kansas benefited from a citizen Legislature where lawmakers hold other professions.
“Turning this from a public service into a job is a bad move for Kansans and a bad move for Kansas,” he said.
This story was originally published March 16, 2023 at 11:31 AM.
