Legislators consent to pay raise for themselves, governor and commissioners

Alaska state legislators have failed to block a 67% pay raise for themselves and a roughly 20% salary increase for the governor and his cabinet.

Under state law, legislators had until May 15 to pass a bill to block the pay raises — but never took a final vote by the deadline. The pay raises are set to go into effect July 1 for the governor and his cabinet, and in January for the Legislature.

Back in March, the state’s independent salary commission held a 15-minute meeting at which all five members agreed to the substantial pay boosts. All of the commissioners had either resigned or were replaced by Gov. Mike Dunleavy in the days leading up to the hastily called meeting.

The newly appointed commission recommended that legislators’ salaries should increase from $50,400 to $84,000 per year, matching half the new salaries proposed for heads of state agencies at $168,000 per year. That will be the first pay raise for legislators since 2010.

“I think it’s a fair salary,” said Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican, in a brief interview May 16. “We are dealing with billions of dollars, and I think we want to attract people who may not want to leave the job they have been at.”

Lawmakers are also eligible for per diem expense payments, which allow them to collect $307 tax-free per legislative day. Per diem payments add another roughly $37,000 per year for legislators who claim them during an entire 121-day legislative session — special sessions can boost that further.

The Legislature unanimously blocked pay raises for the governor and his cabinet in March after the state’s salary commission made no pay recommendations for the Legislature itself.

The former commissioners had proposed that the governor’s salary should be increased from $145,000 per year to $176,000, representing an inflation adjustment and a 2%-per-year increase since the last pay raise in 2011. The lieutenant governor’s salary would increase by around 10% following the same formula to just over $140,000 per year.

After the governor appointed all new commissioners, the group met again and added legislative pay raises to their recommendation.

The total cost for the legislators’ salary increases is roughly $2.7 million per year, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Finance Division. The raises for the governor, lieutenant governor and 15 state commissioners are set to cost $369,000 per year.

In March, members of the 17-member Senate majority said that the process to approve the pay raises had been flawed and clumsy, but they generally supported the recommendations, arguing that without the pay boost, younger and newer legislators could not afford to serve in Juneau.

There were pledges by the House majority to try to block the pay increases, but legislation to block the raises did not advance for a final House vote before the May 15 deadline. The Republican-dominated House majority brought the bill to the floor for a vote a day later — it passed 29-11 but was essentially a meaningless vote for show.