A state commission is recommending automatic inflation-driven pay raises for Alaska’s governor, lieutenant governor, members of the state Legislature and top officials at state agencies.
The recommendation, approved by the three members of the State Officers Compensation Commission on Jan. 29, will become effective after the 2026 state election unless the Legislature and Gov. Mike Dunleavy approve a measure within 60 days rejecting the pay hikes.
“If we’re really going to have a system where anybody can run (for office) and be able financially to do it, we have to have salaries that are commensurate to that need,” said Larry LeDoux, a member of the commission.
Alaska’s governor currently is paid $176,000 per year in salary. The lieutenant governor’s salary is $140,000, and the salaries of state commissioners — in charge of agencies — are $168,000 per year.
State legislators receive $84,000 per year in salary, plus about $37,000 in tax-free income to compensate for their living expenses while in Juneau for session.
Under the commission’s Jan. 29 vote, the salaries will be regularly adjusted according to the Anchorage Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation.
Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican, said Jan. 29 he was not in favor of automatic salary adjustments, and lawmakers might vote to reject the commission’s proposal.
“I don’t like the idea of having an automatic increase because our budget is so tenuous,” Stevens told the Anchorage Daily News. “We just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The salary commission is required by law to meet regularly, but before 2022 it had been over a decade since the last salary adjustment.
The commission in 2023 recommended large pay raises, including a 20% increase for the governor and his cabinet, and a 67% increase for lawmakers. The Legislature did not vote to reject the additional pay, which automatically took effect this year.
“I struggle with automatic increases,” said Lynn Gattis, a former state legislator and member of the commission. But she explained that if the state wants to attract quality commissioners, it needs to pay more.
“Nobody’s doing that for an amount of money that keeps them from feeding their kids and paying their mortgages,” she said.
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