Pay boost must be earned
Two years ago, members of the board that determines Oklahoma legislators' pay made it clear they weren't pleased with what they were seeing at the Capitol. They cut pay by 8.8 percent; one member said he would have liked to cut salaries in half.
This week, the Oklahoma Legislative Compensation Board sent a different and more mixed message by approving pay raises totaling a whopping 35% for the 149 members of the Legislature. It's a stark turnaround but not without some merit.
Instead of $35,021 per year plus per diem ($166 for each day the Legislature is in session), lawmakers will get $47,500 plus per diem when the raises take hold in November 2020. In addition, members who serve in leadership positions in the House and Senate will see bumps in their stipends.
It's worth noting that the nine-person compensation board, consisting of nonelected officials, has all-new members since two years ago. At Tuesday's meeting, some questioned why salaries had been cut by the previous board — the 2017 decision followed considerable criticism of budgeting decisions made by lawmakers in previous years.
Following that move, some including House Speaker Charles McCall wondered whether it would lead to more wealthy Oklahomans seeking office and fewer average folks serving. Current board member Jonathan Dodson, a developer in Oklahoma City, noted that a better salary should broaden the pool of potential candidates.
“We're really trying to get the brightest from our state to go to run and represent us,” Dodson said. “Whether it is a single parent, or they're in the fire department, they're retired or it's their first job, those are the people we're trying to draw.”
The raises, approved by a vote of 7-2, are the first for lawmakers since 1999, something that was mentioned during the board's discussion.
Some members also noted that Oklahoma's average median household salary is roughly $52,000.
Oklahoma is one of 26 states that have what the website Ballotpedia considers a “hybrid” legislature — not full time or part time, but one in which members devote 74% of a full-time job to legislative duties. Although Oklahoma's Legislature is in session just four months each year, members stay busy yearround with interim studies and other duties.
Among Ballotpedia's hybrid states, the average salary is $41,110 (that figure didn't include Oklahoma's new salary). Alabama, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington are hybrid states whose lawmakers earn more than $47,500. The new salaries will place Oklahoma's legislative pay ahead of bordering hybrid states Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri and Texas.
The compensation board's chairman, Robert DeNegri, who preferred a salary boost to $42,500, said the group needed to consider legislators but also “keep in mind what the citizens of Oklahoma might think.”
Many will balk, certainly, but a salary correction was in order after 20 years. It falls to lawmakers to earn their raises with sound policies and responsible stewardship of taxpayer funds.