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   From: nospam@ix.netcom.com   
      
   TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is set to nearly double state legislators' pay   
   at the start of next year, making their compensation better than it is for   
   their counterparts in a majority of states, including more populous ones   
   like Georgia and Texas.   
      
   The increase is nearly $28,000 a year for rank-and-file legislators,   
   boosting their total compensation from $30,000 to nearly $58,000, an   
   increase of 93%. Legislative leaders get additional payments because of   
   their duties, and the House speaker and Senate president are set to make   
   more than $85,000 a year, up from $44,000.   
      
   The pay increase appeared to have bipartisan support, though lawmakers   
   never voted directly on it. Instead, they set up a bipartisan pay   
   commission last year, with its proposal taking effect unless both   
   legislative chambers passed a resolution rejecting it by Wednesday. An   
   effort to force a debate in the Senate failed last week and there was no   
   such move in the House.   
      
   Some Kansas legislators have complained for years that their annual   
   compensation of $30,000 isn't enough to live on year-round, while their   
   duties as lawmakers cut into outside work or even prevent them from   
   holding down other jobs. Supporters of the pay increase say it is likely   
   to make the Legislature more diverse when it's in danger of becoming   
   mostly retirees and wealthy people.   
      
   “You might get a few more females," said state Sen. Cindy Holscher, a   
   Kansas City-area Democrat. "You might get a few more minorities. You might   
   get a few more younger people.”   
      
   Alaska lawmakers’ salaries rose by 67% last month at the start of their   
   annual session, from $50,400 to $84,000, also because legislators let a   
   proposal from a pay commission stand. New Jersey legislators will see   
   their pay increase in 2026, also by 67%, from $49,000 to $82,000. New York   
   lawmakers received a 29% raise at the start of 2023, making their pay the   
   highest in the nation at $142,000 a year.   
      
   Most states pay a salary and give their lawmakers extra money each day to   
   cover expenses in session, according to National Conference of State   
   Legislatures data. New Hampshire's salary is $100 a year — the same as it   
   was in 1889 — while New Mexico pays $202 to cover lawmakers' expenses in   
   session but no salary.   
      
   When Kansas became a state in 1861, its constitution said lawmakers were   
   to receive $3 a day in session, up to $150. They didn’t get a raise for   
   nearly 90 years, with voters rejecting five proposals before approving pay   
   of $12 a day in 1948. In 1962, voters said lawmakers’ pay could be set by   
   state law.   
      
   The new figure, nearly $58,000, includes both a salary and daily, in-   
   session payments to cover expenses such as meals and housing.   
      
   “I think it’s fair,” said House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican.   
   “I think that the commission did, really, a pretty good job.”   
      
   Commission members argued that their sizeable pay increase represented   
   catching lawmakers' compensation up to several decades' worth of   
   inflation. However, the proposal did draw at least a few objections.   
      
   Sen. Rob Olson, a conservative Kansas City-area Republican, tried and   
   failed last week to pull an anti-pay raise resolution out of the Senate   
   budget committee so senators could debate it on the floor. The effort fell   
   short because a dozen of the 40 senators passed.   
      
   Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, saw opposition   
   to the pay raise as political grandstanding.   
      
   “It's just kind of political theater,” he said after last week's vote.   
      
   The Senate budget committee did review the pay proposal Tuesday during a   
   short hearing. Nicholas Reinecker, a central Kansas restaurant owner who   
   makes seven to 10 trips to Topeka a year to advocate for legalizing   
   cannabis, had to interrupt the committee's adjournment — after no action —   
   to get his opposition on record.   
      
   He said he wants Kansas to keep its “citizen” Legislature, adding that   
   when lawmakers take their oaths of office, they promise to “sacrifice for   
   God, family and country.”   
      
   “I'm sorry, it's not supposed to be a job,” he told the committee,   
   predicting that the big pay raise could lead to “entanglements” with   
   professional lobbyists.   
      
   Olson said he doubts lawmakers' constituents support such a big pay raise   
   and said they should have the courage to debate it and vote on it.   
      
   And Rep. Ken Corbet, a Topeka Republican who operates a hunting lodge,   
   said that in most businesses, the boss sets the pay, not the employees.   
   And his boss — the taxpayers — haven't told him a pay raise is OK with   
   them, he said.   
      
   He had considered proposing his own anti-raise resolution, but,   
   “Apparently, there was not an appetite for that.”   
      
   https://news.yahoo.com/kansas-lawmakers-allowing-93-pay-060317468.html   
      
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