Amendment 94 provides chance to reform legislative pay system
By Roy Ockert Jr.
Dec. 30, 2014
An independent citizens’ commission has been formed under Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution, approved by the voters in November to the surprise of many observers of state government, and one of its duties is to make changes in the way we pay legislators.
Although many of those observers are nervous about turning over this authority to an appointed commission, the panel surely couldn’t come up with a worse system that we already have. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll see some changes for the better.
Amendment 70 of 1992 set the salaries for legislators at $12,500 a year, except for the president of the Senate and speaker of the House of Representatives, whose pay was set at $14,000. However, the amendment allowed for annual increases at a percentage no higher than the Consumer Price Index.
Presently, the speaker and Senate president make $17,771 each, while the other 99 representatives and 34 senators make $15,869 a year.
Amendment 94 gives the commission authority to change that, and the first year’s change could be drastic. After that, the commission will be limited to adjusting the salaries by no more than 15 percent.
Most of those who have served in the Legislature will tell you that the pay is much too low, and they are probably right. Although it’s a part-time job, the duties require more than full-time work for at least 90 days every other year and 60 days in the alternate years. Legislative sessions take the lawmaker away from whatever other job he or she might have for extended periods, and not everyone can afford that. For most, the sessions mean being away from home.
One can make a strong case for giving our legislators a significant raise — except for one thing.
Since their pay was set so low by constitutional amendment, the legislators have made adjustments to provide reimbursements for meals and lodging (now a per diem of $148 a day), mileage and office expenses. In 2013 the average legislator also received more than $35,000 above the salary, according to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette study. That comes to about $4.77 million, which was actually down from 2011. Seven lawmakers received more than $50,000 in expense money in 2013.
There is also a provision that allows a legislator to take a flat payment of $10,200 a year in lieu of the per diem and mileage reimbursement, regardless of whether they actually incur that much in such expenses.
No doubt, legislators, especially those from the four corners of the state, incur some heavy expenses. If you can’t commute from home, you’ve got to find temporary living quarters in or near Little Rock. And those at the top of the expense list tended to be from places like Mountain Home, Springdale, Harrison, Bentonville and Mena.
Five Little Rock area legislators did not claim any expense reimbursements.
The most troubling reimbursements are those for maintaining a home office or paying a family member or sham business for “consulting” services. A maximum of $14,400 a year is allowed, and most legislators bill the state for the maximum 12 months a year.
By combining the salary and expense payments, about half our legislators were able to earn more than the secretary of state, treasurer, auditor and land commissioner, each of whom made just under $55,000 in 2013.
The citizens commission, by the way, is also charged with setting the salaries for the seven constitutional officers, and most of them should be increased at least to the point that they make more than county judges. Any position not worth that should be abolished.
But the legislative pay structure is a mess and needs to be reformed. The commission must complete its initial review and make changes within 90 days after the Nov. 5 effective date of Amendment 94.
Here’s what I suggest:
• Raise the salary for senators and representatives to $30,000, with a stipend of $5,000 for the House speaker and Senate president. That’s almost double but still reasonable for a part-time job of some importance.
• Allow all legislators to file for reimbursement of actual mileage incurred while traveling from their district to a legislative session or committee meeting. Require them to provide a detailed mileage log, and reimburse them at the standard rate paid to state employees. They’ve been getting 56.5 cents a mile and haven’t had to document actual mileage. State employees get only 42 cents a mile and must document every mile.
• Establish a reasonable maximum per diem for legislative sessions and committee meetings, but require documentation of actual expenses. Because of limitations imposed on lobbyists under Amendment 94, legislators will apparently get many more blanket invitations to events paid for by companies and associations currying their favor. The Senate events calendar already shows an average of one free meal per day from Jan. 11 through March 25. We should not reimburse a legislator for a meal he or she didn’t pay for.
• Abolish the home office allowance, which would end the practice of hiring family members. If legislators can document such expenses, they can get an income tax break.
The complication to reforming legislative expense payments is that the citizens commission was given absolute authority to make salary adjustments but only the power to make recommendations to the House speaker and Senate president as to expenses. But the Legislature will face considerable public pressure to go along.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.