Salary Commission Seeks To Compare Arkansas With Other States

The Independent Citizens Commission tasked with determining salaries for state elected officials asked for information on comparable states Wednesday in the face of a constitutional deadline to issue a review by Feb. 2.

Created by Amendment 94, which was passed by the voters in November, the commission is reviewing salaries for state constitutional officers, legislators, and judges and Supreme Court justices. It must present a review of possible salary changes by Feb. 2, when it also must recommend expense reimbursements for legislators. The expense recommendations are not binding, but following a public comment period, the commission’s decisions on salaries are final.

With time running short, the commission decided Wednesday to hold seven more meetings between now and the end of the month, beginning with a focus on state legislators Jan. 14. Commission members asked the Bureau of Legislative Research to provide information on salaries in states that, like Arkansas, have a part-time legislature that consumes about two-thirds of legislators’ time and have similar populations, costs of living, and state budgets.

Comparative salaries for all 50 states were presented Wednesday to the commission by Richard Wilson, Bureau of Legislative Research assistant director of research.

Arkansas legislators are paid $15,869 annually, with the speaker of the House and the Senate president pro tempore paid $17,711. Committee chairs are paid an additional $3,600, while vice chairs make $2,400 and subcommittee chairs make an additional $1,800. Meanwhile, legislators living 50 miles or more from the Capitol are paid per diem rates of $150 per day, while those living closer are paid $61 a day. The $150 rate comes from numbers provided by the federal General Services Administration and is meant to cover $61 per day for meals and $89 for lodging.

Legislators also are paid 56 cents per mile driven from their home to the Capitol and back. The state also pays $410 monthly toward legislators’ health insurance, and legislators can earn retirement benefits. Legislators also are reimbursed for office expenses of up to $1,200 a month, with chairpersons and others earning more.

Commission members want to compare Arkansas legislators’ salaries to those in other states, but comparisons are difficult because legislators’ duties and pay vary widely. According to information presented by Wilson from the National Conference of State Legislatures, California, New York and Pennsylvania have full-time legislatures with well-paid legislators and large staff. Several other states also have legislatures that could be considered full-time. Meanwhile, Wilson said, Wyoming‘s legislators meet 60 days every two years and are paid little.

Arkansas is one of 23 “hybrid” states described by the National Conference of State Legislatures as having legislative bodies where service amounts to two-thirds of a full-time job. Legislators in those states are not paid enough to make a living and do not have large staffs. All states surrounding Arkansas are considered to be hybrid states except Mississippi, where service is considered a half-time job.

Hybrid states include Missouri, where lawmakers are paid $35,915 in annual salary and $103.20 per diem during the session only; Oklahoma, where legislators are paid $38,400 annual salaries, $153 per diem during the session and $25 per day during the interim between sessions; and Tennessee, where lawmakers are paid $20,203 annually plus $188 per diem.

Commission members heard today from the Arkansas Judicial Council, the Arkansas District Judges Council, incoming speaker of the House Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, and incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy. Gillam and Dismang had been asked to provide insight into the demands placed on legislators.

Gillam told commission members that legislators must attend regular and fiscal sessions, meet for interim committee meetings, and take care of constituent needs.

“You’re always on call. There’s no simple little run to Walmart or to the grocery store to pick up an item because those are usually at least an hour trip because somebody in there will stop you to visit with you about an issue,” he said.

With an annual salary of $86,890, Arkansas has the second lowest paid governor among the country’s 50 states – only Maine pays its governor less – and the nation’s lowest paid attorney general ($72,408) according to the Council of State Governments. The chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court fares better, ranking 27th with a salary of $160,001.