Published: May 15, 2023
By: Allison Allsop, LSU Manship School New Service
The House Appropriations Committee voted 16-5 Monday to kill a bill that would have increased the salary for legislators.
House Bill 149 had proposed increasing their pay to roughly $39,000 a year from $16,800, not including the daily stipend for lawmakers who live outside the Baton Rouge area. The committee rejected the bill after much discussion about service, privilege and ability.
Many legislators voiced their concern for supporting a raise in their own salaries when many residents of Louisiana deserve pay raises even more. Some members also worried about how it would look to vote to increase lawmaker pay after the same committee removed direct state funding for up to $3,000 in pay raises for K-12 teachers from the governor’s proposed budget.
After several members of the committee voiced their disapproval, Rep. Joseph Marino, a Gretna Independent who sponsored the pay raise proposal, said many lawmakers refused to pass the bill because they are running for reelection and worry it will harm them.
Read more at Louisiana Illuminator
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