Jeff City, MO – Missouri lawmakers are getting a pay raise, thanks to a failed resolution that would have blocked an increase.
"We haven't had a raise in, what, 14 years?" said Missouri state Rep. Bill Kidd of Jackson County. "If you keep the salary the same, the only people who can afford to be here are the people who have money." Kidd was among those pushing colleagues to vote against the resolution, and for a salary increase.
It's not a huge increase, about $1,800 a year, and brings the annual salary for those in both the House and Senate to $37,711 a year. The last raise was in 2007.
Every few years, the legislature has been passing resolutions to block a raise from a commission independent of lawmakers. Rep. Rob Vescovo of Arnold said the resolution has gone against the purpose of the pay commission.
"We are now injecting ourselves into a process that we weren't supposed to be involved in, in the first place," says Vescovo, who asked that the process be respected.
The measure was ultimately defeated, despite some who wished to continue blocking it ... especially in the current times of financial hardship for so many Missourians. The Senate will not be considering any bills until after the deadline when the raise takes effect.
