Thursday, March 25, 1999
Ohio lawmakers look at pay raise
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — Pay raises are needed in the legislature to help attract good lawmakers, says the sponsor of a proposal that would increase the base pay by $2,500 a year.
State Sen. Roy Ray, an Akron Republican, began committee hearings Wednesday on his bill, which would increase the base pay to about $45,000, beginning in 2001. The legislature last received an increase in 1992.
"Modest' amount
“It's a very modest increase,” Mr. Ray told the Senate Finance Committee, which he leads. “I think we need it to attract competent people.”
Leaders would get an additional raise, ranging from $1,000 for the Senate president and House speaker to $250 for the lowest leadership position. Committee chairmen would receive $500 more, while vice chairmen would get $250.
In addition, every two years lawmakers would get a 3 percent raise or the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower.
No lawmaker, however, would receive the increase before facing re-election. That means senators elected last year to a four-year term would not get the increase until 2003. House members serve two-year terms.
Sen. Eric Fingerhut, D-Cleveland, praised the concept of putting the raise into a separate bill and not burying it as an amendment in separate legislation.
“It at least confronts the issue in the open and removes some of the politics,” Mr. Fingerhut said.
Is it deserved?
But Sen. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, questioned not only whether lawmakers deserved a raise but also the automatic increases the bill includes.
“Is this bill designed to keep the (pay) gap from growing in the future?” Mr. Hottinger said.
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