The pay of Kansas legislators is among the lowest in the nation, Associated Press reported — but it’s even less than it appears. More than half of the approximately $17,000 that legislators receive for the 90-day session is to help cover their meals and lodging in Topeka. And when the session ends, their work doesn’t stop; they continue to help constituents and meet with groups throughout the year — usually without additional pay.
Lawmakers who serve in some leadership positions get paid a little more. But Rep. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, said that the average legislator’s taxable salary for a full 90-day session and for serving on interim committees (which pay extra) is only $8,650.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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42 Comments
Give em a raise!
Now that we have an understanding of that bit of information out of the way, so what is it that so many of those have chosen to be a legislator?Is it vanity, egoist, arrogances or is it special interest agenda?
I hadn’t realized Kansas legislators were paid on the merit system.
It’s all about the connections.
They should be paid more for the work they do on behalf of the people of Kansas. This is how you end up with uneducated screwball religious nuts taking over the legislature. And I can tell you having served on a local school council that it takes up much more time than you might think. My position was unpaid and it took up virtually all my time outside my regular job. You have budgets to deal with and parents calling you all hours of the day and night. But people only see you when you meet twice a month so they think you don’t do all that much. After one term I didn’t run again. Not because I did not wish to serve the people and the school but because I simply did not have the time for it.
“This is how you end up with uneducated screwball religious nuts taking over the legislature.”Posted by: Kev | July 20, 2007 at 05:51 AM
It also assures that the legislature is populated by the very wealthy or the retired. Who’s interests do you think they’re advancing?
What would help perhaps is that the Lodging and food while staying in Topeka be covered by the State of Kansas. The Legislature and Senate could establish limits for both so it would not be abused.
Perhaps give them a State Issued Visa or MasterCard that emphatically states that meals and lodging can only be charged to the card.
An audit of the card revealing excessive lodging charges or lavish meals would result in the member losing card privileges.
I know it would be abused, but I think this would be a better solution than an out right salary raise.
The ones that don’t want to spend the money don’t have to sign up for the State credit card.
With mileage already paid for, this would put the total “benefits” on par with other legislatures for States of this size.
Also, in addition to the credit card, I would make the charges on the card available to the press within sixty days after the charges. This way, the Public can keep an eye on things.
The names of the establishments on the cards (restaurants/lodging) could be left blank so not to put the legislatures in any danger or the chance of being stalked.
Any member caught violating the use of the card could be put into the press releases for his/her district.
Also, any violations on the card would be deducted from the next years card. Let’s say representative “X” spent $500.00 a night on the Presidential Suite but actually didn’t stay there.
For one, make it a State Law requiring Lodging and Restaurant establishments to notify the state of charges greater than $100.00. (They would notice that State Logo and Title on the credit card.)
Secondly, the entitlement on the card would reduced the total authorization for the card by $500.00 for the next year.
Thirdly, two or more violations would result in losing the card all together which would not be able to be appealed.
Fourthly, have a different agency such as the State Treasurer monitor the cards to insure there are no acts of protective GOBN going on.
Fifthly, any gross misuse of the card would result in permanent suspension of the card and possible misconduct charges brought forth by the legislature and possible fraud charges brought for by the State Attorney General.
Sure, pay the legislators more money, IF they hit certain BENCHMARKS. Merit pay, you might say.
The US sets benchmarks for other countries, why not our own?
How about a dorm system? Rather than sharing rooms, they could each have their own room, though. But with a cafeteria and meals provided. When the Legislature was not in session, the state could rent the rooms or use it as a homeless shelter or something.
$8,650 / 90days = $96/day$96/day / 8hours/day = $12/hour
Sometimes they are busy:$96/day / 10hours/day = $9.60/hour
Seems reasonable.
FYI:2005 per capita income in KS = $32,836 (/ 2080 hours = $15.79/hour)[anonymous
Posted July 20, 2007 at 8:28 am | Permalink
I would say the problem is that we have too many legislators meeting too often. The result is a lot of laws, taxes, and spending that we don’t need.
Some states manage to get by with their legislature meeting every other year.
… and even with all those meetings and interim committees?
These bozos STILL cant tackle the water problems in kansas?
I hear Crowson’s “fiddlers three” tuning up for the next ear splitting performance.
Brian has the right idea – make them live like college kids in the 70’s – 4 to a room. Make them live with at least one member of the opposite party. Then maybe they would start acting like adults.
But when people hear that 90 days = $17,000 that sounds pretty good to them. After all that comes to $188.88 per day and most people I know do not come near that for their paycheck.
The US Congress is where the real money is anyway.
I would love Congressional pay to match the median income of the district the Congressperson represents.
Quite a few legislators from urban areas get leaves of absence from their “day jobs” to go serve in the Kansas Legislature. Some are farmers, and don’t need to be home 100% of the time in the winter. Some are attorneys who are able to take time away from their practice. Many are retired, from factory work to professional jobs. Some are homemakers, some are independently wealthy, and some live close to poverty.
In short: The Kansas legislature is amazingly representative of much of Kansas. Some are there just for their own egos, but honestly, most of them (even the ones I disagree with) are there to make Kansas a better place to live.
They _do_ deserve more money.
They should receive more, we don’t want a legislature made up of only the wealthy. The problem in part is that serving in the legislature makes it difficult to keep a regular job.
Ralph,
Did you not pay attention to my post? Our legislature is not “made up of only the wealthy.”
Sure, they don’t get paid much, but then again, they don’t do much.
Hey what about the retirement and benifit package. Let’s see the whole pay package. Sure, Les Dovonan needs a pay raise.
I believe Kansas state legislators receive a salary plus per diem for travel, food and apartment while in Topeka.
Kansas has 40 state senators and 125 state representatives all elected from districts based on a gerrymandering of population (one man, one vote basis).
Only the U.S. Senate has two senators from each state regardless of population. This arrangement was provided in the U.S. constitution to give small states an equal footing in Congress. However, this arrangement doesn’t extend to state senates in our state legislatures.
One state, Nebraska, has a “unicameral” state legislature, that is, a one-house legislature. In fact, the Nebraska state capital building in Lincoln is a tall tower building emphacising their unicameral system. I don’t know how many members the Nebraska legislature has … that would be interesting.
As far as I know, the remaining states have “bi-cameral” (two-houses) state legislatures. In years past, even some city councils had an upper house and lower house modeled after the federal government. Don’t know about Wichita, but Kansas City, Missouri, had a bi-cameral city council back in its history probably up to the 1920′a. Ironically, after Kansas City “modernized” their city government in the 1920’s by adopting a city manager plan, political boss Tom Pendergast took over until about 1940 when he went to prison for gambling.Of course, any move to reduce sessions or legislative members in our Kansas government would give more power to the hired bureacracy.
Supposedly our Kansas Senate is more conservative and deliberate than our Kansas House of Representatives to provide an oversight or “second look” at proposed legislation.
I have always thought that one of the main reasons for lack of candidates for the state legislative races is the need to live in Topeka for about four months of the year. Of course, some legislators do drive home on weekends and I suspect some who live close to Topeka might actually drive back and forth most days.
ANYWAY, BOTTOMLINE, IT WOULD SEEM THAT WITH MODERN COMMUNICATIONS AVAILABLE, THERE SHOULD BE A WAY TO MEET LESS IN TOPEKA AND STUDY LEGISLATION AND VOTE VIA COMPUTERS. PERHAPS SPEND THE FIRST WEEK OR SO IN TOPEKA TO GET ACQUAINTED WITH ISSUES AND SPEND FINAL TWO WEEKS IN TOPEKA FOR FINAL VOTES AND WRAP-UP SESSIONS.
This might make serving in the legislature more palatable to more potential legislators.
Any comments from our legislative bloggers?
Nebraska has 49 Senators. The Capital in Lincoln was built right before the state changed to the Unicameral system. The building still has two legislative chambers. NE used to have the lowest pay but have been working on raising it.
I think KS could save a lot of headaches with the Unicameral system.
I think KS legislators should be chosen the same way Jurors are chosen. Still have a Bicameral houses though…
Gosh I hope not Tony. Some of the questions that the defense attorney in jury selection asks can get quite personal. :)
I meant by lottery… Not questioning. Once one serves, they cant serve again…
JWink,
Most of what you post is factually correct, but there’s a few points of your analysis I’d mildly disagree with.
The districts aren’t too badly gerrymandered; most of them are drawn around neighborhoods, with almost no slicing neighborhoods in an attempt to dilute peoples votes.
The small size of the legislative districts means our state representatives have the ability to really get to know their districts and their constituents. Larger districts would make for more difficult constituent response and services.
The Senate isn’t more “conservative” in the way far-right radicals mean the word, but it is certainly more _RESPONSIBLE_ than the House. The House is very “winds of the moment,” and the Kansas Senate spends a lot of time and energy fixing bad bills that come out of the House.
If the Legislature met over the internet, that would be the end of open meetings in Kansas. Anyone can now walk into any hearing room and observe the proceedings. Anyone can talk to their Reps and Senators in the hallways. Anyone can walk into any Senator’s or Representative’s Capitol office and have a face-to-face meeting. Most people have NO IDEA how completely accessible their state government is here in Kansas. We’re very privileged to have a state government as open as ours, and I’d hate to close it off.
“The small size of the legislative districts means our state representatives have the ability to really get to know their districts and their constituents. Larger districts would make for more difficult constituent response and services.”
Speak for yourself Tom:)
Our districts out here are ANYTHING but small. Hell, it takes Virginia Beemer three hours to drive from one end of her district to another!
Of course, I dont favor geography over “one person one vote”. But SMALL districts only exist in the more urban east.
Farmgrrl,
Yeah, I know northwest Kansas districts are large. There’s just so few people out your way! I think the 118th is geographically the largest House district in the state, and I know old Ralph O’s Senate district is definitely the largest.
Oh, and can you imagine how much larger they’d be with _fewer_ Senators and Reps???
Yeah Tom. Sad isnt it?
But when it comes to water and population, western kansas keeps doing the same things and expecting different results.
Since the 1920’s.
One other thing I left off my reply to JWink:
ANY Kansan can put their name on the list to testify in support or opposition to any bill before a committee. Going “internet only” would further block the public’s participation in the process.
Farmgrrl,
Wish I could help you with that. But here in Wichita, water comes from the tap, or from little plastic bottles. People are completely ignorant about how vulnerable and limited our water supply is.
one or two industrial accidents at some strategic locations could shut down all water into Wichita.
Wichita’s own threat assessment report says that there is no redundancy at the Cheney lake pump station. The same thing goes for the various ground water pumps up north. There is very little redundancy and really no plan in the event of a long term power outage, let alone an actual disaster occurring at either of those places.
Also, what were to happen if one of those 3′ pipes crossing the river up along K96 were to get washed away or ran into by a car?
I think the housing idea is a good one. I’m willing to allow my taxes to pay for the place.
Like a suite apartment complex for them. They can have their own rooms.
Considering the average cost of one night in a motel is 60 bucks (they get state rates).
It would also serve taxpayers well to ask that when they go to a conference or something, they CAN share rooms. Most of them don’t. That’s city government too. When we go on our ambulance conferences, we’re asked to bunk up, but I know the board members don’t have to do that. And I know other state employees don’t have to share a room. That’d be a LOT of savings right there.
Our lawmakers do deserve better than what they’re paid now.They’re always on, even in the off season my lawmakers respond to my emails.
You get what you pay for.
OK all, my comments were off the top of my head, I should have checked my facts.
LYNN: Nice to talk to you at Riverside Cafe recently. Interesting that Nebraska has 49 state senators which I presume is their total elected legislative branch. This is less than 1/3 of Kansas’ elected legislators which is 40 senators plus 125 house members for a total of 165 members. Must be quite a distance to drive from Chadron in the NW corner to Lincoln, Nebraska’s capital.
TOM: I was using the term “gerrymandered” in a good way, after-all it’s my first name. I know the term is often used negatively to mean designing legislative districts to protect or omit an individual for or from public office. I was only trying to indicate legislative districts are supposed to have approximately equal populations so equal-sided, cookie cutter districts are generally not possible. I believe they do try to include whole precincts … Bill Gale, am I correct on this?
TOM: You make good points about our Kansas legislature being very open to the public. It is and I have used that over the years. Although I suppose some would say Topeka is a long way from, say, Liberal or Meade or Atwood, Kansas.
Tony: Interesting comments about our Wichita water supply. As we have discussed before, Wichita gets about 1/2 its water from Cheney Lake which is fed by the north branch of the Ninnescah River. The other 1/2 comes from the Equus Beds aquifer up by Halstead.
The Equus Beds aquifer is shallower than the Ogallala aquifer further west but they are connected hydrologically.
The City of Wichita has been recharging the Equus Beds aquifer from “flood” level water flowing in the Little Arkansas River. I notice in the EAGLE one of the justifications for raising our water bills is to pay for improvements to this recharging system. I believe the TREATMENT of the water to be recharged into the Equus Beds aquifer is going to be improved … this is very important so we don’t inadvertently poison the water in that underground aquifer storage facility.
The Valley Center explosion shows how easy chemicals could get into a stream bed and either soak down into the aquifer or actually be pumped down by a recharge facility. Fortunately, all reports say this DIDN’T HAPPEN.
Of course, Cheney Lake which is owned by the City of Wichita even though most of it is in Reno County, is fed by the north branch of the Ninnescah River. In its watershed further northwest, oil is being drilled and salt is being mined, both of which could do major damage to the Chaney Lake water supply. Fortunately this is being monitered.
A fellow named Jerry Blaine (sp?) is the water source expert in the City of Wichita’s Water Department. I talked to him several months ago in his city hall office and found him very informative.
I invited Mr. Blaine to comment on water issues on this WE Blog but so far haven’t seen comments by him.
They get plenty of prestige and get to get their names in the paper. Other than that, I think they are probably overpaid for a part time job.
How about pay for performance?Maybe the people of Kansas should adopt some standards for what we expect our representatives to perform at the capitol.
Without standards, they could be overpaid, or underpaid.
And just how would one measure the performance of an elected representative?
Maybe by attendance (sorry Brownie)?
I think societally, we need to take a look at the the job of politician.Who do we want in office? What types of people? Should politics be a career? How should those representing us be compensated?
I don’t think this issue is given nearly enough though and exposure. There are some definite improvements that can be made to the political system from this aspect, which undoubtedly would lead to better representation.
“What would help perhaps is that the Lodging and food while staying in Topeka be covered by the State of Kansas. The Legislature and Senate could establish limits for both so it would not be abused.
Perhaps give them a State Issued Visa or MasterCard that emphatically states that meals and lodging can only be charged to the card.
An audit of the card revealing excessive lodging charges or lavish meals would result in the member losing card privileges.”
The best way to handle that is to do like my company does and pay a per diem. They pay you $76 a day for lodging and $25 a day for food when you travel. Anymore than that, you pay for it and anything less, you get to keep it. Motel 6 and the Waffle House are fine by me so I always come home with more money than a I leave with.