Todd Dorman
Apr. 20, 2024 11:59 am, Updated: Apr. 21, 2024 12:05 pm
The Iowa House approved a bill this past week raising salaries for lawmakers and statewide government officials. But as legislators hurtled toward adjournment Friday and into Saturday, the Senate said “No thanks” to an election year pay increase.
Excuse me while I shed a very small tear.
Under the bill, rank and file lawmakers would have seen their pay increased from $25,000 annually to $35,000 in 2025, after this fall’s election. That’s a 40% raise. Top legislative leaders would make $47,500. The governor’s pay would increase to $140,000 and the attorney general would be paid $133,669. Other statewide officials, including the state auditor, treasurer, secretary of agriculture and lieutenant governor would make $113,212 after the pay boost.
That’s nearly $1.9 million in pay increases by Fiscal Year 2026, according to the Legislative Services Agency. Lawmakers haven’t approved pay raises for Statehouse politicians since 2005, with pay hikes taking full effect in 2007. Approving a pay increase is always politically dicey, so this time the legislation includes a mechanism providing for cost-of-living increases. Smart.
On the House floor Thursday, Rep. Joel Fry, R-Osceola, argued the pay increase is needed to attract and retain quality Iowans in public service. He said the raise would assure Iowa’s “future and brightness.” That will come in handy on gloomy days in February.
The bill cleared the House 58-38, with Democrats and Republicans on both sides.
Normally, my rational side would lead me to support a pay increase. I don’t begrudge elected officials a reasonable salary. Periodic raises make sense if we want to encourage membership in our august legislative bodies beyond the wealthy and retired. I get it.
Unfortunately, I’m feeling more indignant than rational after watching this Republican-controlled Statehouse regime operate, too often with contempt, callousness and cruelty toward its fellow Iowans. So, excuse me if I don’t get all the feels for underpaid lawmakers.
Gov. Kim Reynolds turned down $29 million to provide federal food assistance to Iowa kids, arguing it didn’t mandate the purchase of nutritious food. Instead, Reynolds created $900,000 in competitive grants for summer meals. Some folks on social media are calling Reynolds’ program “The Hunger Games.”
May the odds be ever in your favor, grant applicants.
But the governor stopped President Biden from scoring a win for Iowa kids. And that’s what matters.
Through all this, Republican lawmakers sat on their hands. Bills for expanding free and reduced school lunches, which likely have enough support to pass, didn’t even get a committee hearing.
Last year, the Legislature and governor threw up new bureaucratic barriers for families seeking help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. More than 40% of SNAP households include kids. But the governor insists safety net programs have become a “hammock.” So clever.
All of this in a state where nearly 240,000 people face hunger, according to Feeding America, including one in 11 children. Unmet food needs in Iowa total more than $144 million.
But don’t you worry. Even without a raise, lawmakers won’t go hungry.
During the current legislative session, special interest groups spent nearly $330,000 on more than 80 receptions for lawmakers, with most of the bucks going for food and drinks. Was this free grub nutritious? Hard to say.
One January reception hosted by FUELIowa (PMCI), the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives, Iowa Biotechnology Association, Iowa Communications Alliance and the Iowa Institute for Cooperatives cost $27,446. The food bill topped $22,000 and beverages nearly hit $4,000. I hope lawmakers weren’t fooled into eating lab meat by the biotech folks.
Lawmakers also receive per diem payments for daily expenses, such as housing and food. Each legislator living in Polk County received $14,685 in expense payments this session, according to the Legislative Services Agency. Lawmakers who live outside of Polk County each received $19,580 during the 100-day session.
Do you know who else hasn’t received a raise since 2007? Minimum wage workers.
Iowa’s wage floor remains at $7.25 per-hour even as voters in surrounding states have approved increases. A 40% increase in the minimum wage would raise it to $10.15 and indexing it for inflation could decouple it from the Dickensian politics of the moment.
So long as Republicans remain in control, that’s not going to happen.
Public schools received a 3 percent increase in state funding. In some districts, teachers and other school staff are getting pink slips, not raises.
And with conservative think tanks and bill mills working overtime to fill the Iowa Code with great ideas, do we even need legislators? Just bring in the Opportunity Solutions Project from Florida and let them have at it. Or just Xerox everything other red states do.
Yes, there are thoughtful, hardworking lawmakers who deserve a raise. Trouble is, we must give it to every legislator. There’s no merit pay in the General Assembly, lucky for them.
Raise or no raise, I just hope all this government money and free stuff doesn’t lead lawmakers to lounge on one of the governor’s famous hammocks. Better toss in some bootstraps just to be sure.
(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com
www.thegazette.com
Apr. 20, 2024 11:59 am, Updated: Apr. 21, 2024 12:05 pm
The Iowa House approved a bill this past week raising salaries for lawmakers and statewide government officials. But as legislators hurtled toward adjournment Friday and into Saturday, the Senate said “No thanks” to an election year pay increase.
Excuse me while I shed a very small tear.
Under the bill, rank and file lawmakers would have seen their pay increased from $25,000 annually to $35,000 in 2025, after this fall’s election. That’s a 40% raise. Top legislative leaders would make $47,500. The governor’s pay would increase to $140,000 and the attorney general would be paid $133,669. Other statewide officials, including the state auditor, treasurer, secretary of agriculture and lieutenant governor would make $113,212 after the pay boost.
That’s nearly $1.9 million in pay increases by Fiscal Year 2026, according to the Legislative Services Agency. Lawmakers haven’t approved pay raises for Statehouse politicians since 2005, with pay hikes taking full effect in 2007. Approving a pay increase is always politically dicey, so this time the legislation includes a mechanism providing for cost-of-living increases. Smart.
On the House floor Thursday, Rep. Joel Fry, R-Osceola, argued the pay increase is needed to attract and retain quality Iowans in public service. He said the raise would assure Iowa’s “future and brightness.” That will come in handy on gloomy days in February.
The bill cleared the House 58-38, with Democrats and Republicans on both sides.
Normally, my rational side would lead me to support a pay increase. I don’t begrudge elected officials a reasonable salary. Periodic raises make sense if we want to encourage membership in our august legislative bodies beyond the wealthy and retired. I get it.
Unfortunately, I’m feeling more indignant than rational after watching this Republican-controlled Statehouse regime operate, too often with contempt, callousness and cruelty toward its fellow Iowans. So, excuse me if I don’t get all the feels for underpaid lawmakers.
Gov. Kim Reynolds turned down $29 million to provide federal food assistance to Iowa kids, arguing it didn’t mandate the purchase of nutritious food. Instead, Reynolds created $900,000 in competitive grants for summer meals. Some folks on social media are calling Reynolds’ program “The Hunger Games.”
May the odds be ever in your favor, grant applicants.
But the governor stopped President Biden from scoring a win for Iowa kids. And that’s what matters.
Through all this, Republican lawmakers sat on their hands. Bills for expanding free and reduced school lunches, which likely have enough support to pass, didn’t even get a committee hearing.
Last year, the Legislature and governor threw up new bureaucratic barriers for families seeking help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. More than 40% of SNAP households include kids. But the governor insists safety net programs have become a “hammock.” So clever.
All of this in a state where nearly 240,000 people face hunger, according to Feeding America, including one in 11 children. Unmet food needs in Iowa total more than $144 million.
But don’t you worry. Even without a raise, lawmakers won’t go hungry.
During the current legislative session, special interest groups spent nearly $330,000 on more than 80 receptions for lawmakers, with most of the bucks going for food and drinks. Was this free grub nutritious? Hard to say.
One January reception hosted by FUELIowa (PMCI), the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives, Iowa Biotechnology Association, Iowa Communications Alliance and the Iowa Institute for Cooperatives cost $27,446. The food bill topped $22,000 and beverages nearly hit $4,000. I hope lawmakers weren’t fooled into eating lab meat by the biotech folks.
Lawmakers also receive per diem payments for daily expenses, such as housing and food. Each legislator living in Polk County received $14,685 in expense payments this session, according to the Legislative Services Agency. Lawmakers who live outside of Polk County each received $19,580 during the 100-day session.
Do you know who else hasn’t received a raise since 2007? Minimum wage workers.
Iowa’s wage floor remains at $7.25 per-hour even as voters in surrounding states have approved increases. A 40% increase in the minimum wage would raise it to $10.15 and indexing it for inflation could decouple it from the Dickensian politics of the moment.
So long as Republicans remain in control, that’s not going to happen.
Public schools received a 3 percent increase in state funding. In some districts, teachers and other school staff are getting pink slips, not raises.
And with conservative think tanks and bill mills working overtime to fill the Iowa Code with great ideas, do we even need legislators? Just bring in the Opportunity Solutions Project from Florida and let them have at it. Or just Xerox everything other red states do.
Yes, there are thoughtful, hardworking lawmakers who deserve a raise. Trouble is, we must give it to every legislator. There’s no merit pay in the General Assembly, lucky for them.
Raise or no raise, I just hope all this government money and free stuff doesn’t lead lawmakers to lounge on one of the governor’s famous hammocks. Better toss in some bootstraps just to be sure.
(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com
Opinion: No worries. Unlike kids, Iowa lawmakers won’t go hungry
The Iowa Senate conducts business on the floor during the first day of the 2024 session of the Iowa Legislature …
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