Texas lawmaker wants voters to decide whether legislators deserve a raise

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Texas lawmakers are among the many lowest paid within the nation, however one state lawmaker is making an attempt to change that by tying future legislators’ salaries to the median wage of a public faculty trainer.

The present median wage for lecturers is $58,887, whereas legislators make $7,200 a yr, a wage that hasn’t modified since 1975. By comparability, the average salary in Texas is $67,321.

In November, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made rising trainer pay one among his legislative priorities for the present session.

Many state legislators work different jobs after they aren’t in session because the Legislature meets 140 days each different yr. The majority work as attorneys or enterprise house owners — together with state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an lawyer.

“There are colleagues who believe [being a state legislator] should be part time, essentially a volunteer position. I think that was a noble sentiment, maybe a hundred years ago,” she mentioned. “What it means today is that only those who are independently wealthy or own their own business can take off five to six months every two years from their work.”

Hinojosa recalled talking to a group of younger individuals about being a state lawmaker and feeling like a “fraud” as a result of she is aware of that the majority Texans can’t afford to work for $7,200 a yr.

“There is this old-school notion that we should not be paid a salary; it just doesn’t work in 2023,” she added. “It didn’t feel right to keep going around talking to young people about how they too could grow up to do what I do when there is such a barrier.”

Hinojosa’s bill would set legislators’ salaries equal to the median trainer wage and would solely apply to future state lawmakers’ salaries — present lawmakers would proceed to make $7,200 a yr. Her invoice was filed as an modification to the state structure; if handed by the Legislature, it might let Texans vote on the proposed modification.

Hinojosa mentioned she believes working as a state legislator is a full-time job as a result of it comes with year-round duties.

“Just because we’re not in session does not mean [that] we’re not working,” she mentioned. “We take that interim time [between legislative sessions] to meet with constituents, meet with stakeholders, craft legislation and do research on legislation. This job is what you make it; for me it is a full-time job.”

Sharon Navarro, a political science professor on the University of Texas at San Antonio, mentioned any try at elevating lawmakers’ pay faces challenges heading into subsequent yr’s elections

“That’s going to be a very tricky sell to voters when you have inflation and people hurting in their wallets,” she mentioned. “They don’t want to know about someone else getting a raise.”

Texas isn’t the one state the place lawmakers are taking a look at rising their pay. In New Mexico and Nebraska — which be part of Texas near the bottom of legislator salaries within the U.S. — lawmakers are also pushing for increased pay.

In New Mexico, the place lawmakers aren’t paid, legislators just lately attempted to give themselves a salary, greater than 30 years after New Mexicans voted towards the concept.

Meanwhile, Nebraska lawmakers are wanting to raise their $12,000 wage simply over a decade after voters there rejected a state constitutional modification to raise their pay.

Hinojosa mentioned a lot of her colleagues within the Legislature oppose the concept of a wage improve as a result of they nonetheless consider serving within the Legislature needs to be a part-time place.

“We started the conversation. It will take time to get there,” she mentioned.

As a former president of the Austin Independent School District faculty board, Hinojosa mentioned she thinks tying legislators’ pay to lecturers’ wage would open their eyes to the difficulties lecturers face.

“Hopefully, their personal experience with living on a teacher’s salary will put them more in touch with the spending constraints that our teachers experience,” she mentioned. “And perhaps convince them to do a little better by our teachers.”

Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, agreed.

“Having most [legislators] have to spend a month trying to figure out how to make it on an average teacher salary — I think [it] would help give them a perspective of what it is like,” he mentioned.

“It would be nice to have these legislators go substitute in a school for a day or two,” he added. “I think most of them would run kicking and screaming out of the schools.”

The University of Texas at San Antonio has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news group that’s funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Financial supporters play no position within the Tribune’s journalism. Find a full list of them here.