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Senate pushes review of salaries of elected officials
The Senate passed a bill this month to establish an advisory commission that will look at potential salary increases for the governor, lieutenant governor, legislators, and mayors.
Senate Bill 19-45 notes that the last time salaries were increased for elected officials was during the 7th Legislature, when an advisory commission was established to review compensation.
The Senate believes “it is time to review the salaries” and make recommendations on compensation for these elected officials, the bill states.
Public Law 7-31 increased the annual salaries of legislators to $39,000, for governor to $70,000, and the lieutenant governor to $60,000.
In passing the bill, the Senate amended the original bill to include mayors.
They also deleted a part of the bill to “avoid any unintended offense to past and current legislators,” a Senate committee report on the bill states.
That amendment deleted the following: “The Legislature believes in the idea that raising salaries of elected officials would signal the importance of the job, attract competent person who might otherwise enter a field with higher salaries, allow politicians to focus on important and critical matters rather than be too concerned with their income, and make politicians less vulnerable to the influence of deep-pocket interests.”
The advisory commission would consist of three members appointed by the governor, two members appointed by the Senate president, and two members appointed by the House speaker, and would serve without pay but reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred during their duties, according to the bill, which was introduced by Sen. Justo Quitugua.
