A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

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21 December 2018 — 1602 mst

Scott Sales’ legislative pay bill

Senate President Scott Sales (R-Bozeman, SD-35), has introduced Senate Bill 80, which has the short title of “Revise method of setting legislator compensation to 5-state survey.” Here’s the heart of the proposal:

“5-2-301. Compensation and expenses for members while in session. (1) Prior to June 30 of each even-numbered year, the department of administration shall conduct a salary survey of legislators for the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Idaho. In determining the average daily pay for legislators, the department shall include:

  1. the daily rate for Montana legislators; and

  2. the average daily pay provided during each other state’s legislative session.

(2) If the average five-state daily rate is greater than the daily rate for legislators in Montana, then beginning January 1 of the year following the year in which the survey is conducted, the average daily rate is the new daily rate for Montana legislators.

(3) Legislators are entitled to a salary commensurate to that of the daily rate for an employee earning $10.33 an hour as provided for in subsection (2) when the regular session of the legislature in which they serve is convened under 5-2-103 for those days during which the legislature is in session. The hourly daily rate must be adjusted by any statutorily required pay increase as provided for in subsection (2). The president of the senate and the speaker of the house must receive an additional $5 a day in salary for those days during which the legislature is in session.

There’s more, and somewhere there may be a report explaining SB-80 and the reasoning behind it. My interpretation is that SB-80, which might increase the pay of legislators beginning with the 2021 session, gives North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Idaho, a lot of power over legislative pay in Montana. That’s a blatant CYA scheme. It’s also a backdoor attempt to set in motion a legislative pay process that moves forward on autopilot, thereby protecting legislators from the need to take votes to increase their pay.

SB-80 isn’t going anywhere, and it shouldn’t. There’s a case for raising the pay of Montana’s legislators — a good case in my opinion — but it needs to be made in a straightforward manner. The more voters learn about this bill, the more outraged they’ll become, the more hell they’ll raise, and the less likely a reasonable pay raise will become.

Additional information

Legislative compensation for 50 states, from the National Association of State Legislatures.

Montana Legislator Compensation, from the Montana Legislature.