It’s time to finally settle the Alaska Legislature’s pay

It’s good to see the State Officer Compensation Commission working to restructure legislative pay and per diem. This has been an unresolved issue for decades, to the satisfaction of almost no one. I believe the commission is headed in the right direction currently, but I suggest a slightly different proposal than what appears to be on the table presently.

I support increasing the base legislative salary, but do not support any per diem consideration. None. Any per diem policy left in the compensation package may well lead to “per diem creep” down the road. My suggestion is to raise the base salary to a Range 28A, about $106,000 per year, and eliminate all per diem. Since legislators already get retirement credit, medical, dental and vision benefits, I would leave those intact. Legislators also currently benefit from paid legislative business travel, reimbursement of the cost of moving to and from Juneau, and office expense accounts as authorized by presiding officers in the House and Senate. I would leave those intact.

A Range 28A salary level would be on par with the pay of departmental commissioners in the administrative branch. At that level, legislators could afford to pay their living expenses in Juneau without benefit of per diem, and deduct their housing, food, and incidental costs from their annual IRS tax obligation. This is what legislative staff not living in Juneau have been doing for decades. Such a change would not require the hiring of additional agency staff, and perhaps such a structure would discourage unnecessary special sessions like some we’ve had in recent years.

Since we presumably have three equal branches of government, officers among the branches should be treated more equally where compensation is concerned. I say more equally, not exactly the same, since each branch is structured differently with differing missions. When salaries in the judiciary are raised, it’s never a public issue. When salaries in the administration are raised, it’s never a public issue, except to note what the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s adjustments are — hardly controversial. The judiciary and administrative branches never have a negative issue with per diem, such as the legislative branch experiences.

Legislative compensation, by contrast, is of much more interest to the public, often an unsympathetic audience — and adjusting it can become a public spectacle. The value of their experiences, skills, schooling and certifications, if any, varies in worth among the constituency. A legislator’s value is a matter of opinion. This is fine for political considerations, but not for compensation matters. Serving as an Alaska legislator demands considerable personal and family sacrifice from those elected. A respectable compensation package, including a realistic base salary, but free of a per diem component, is long overdue.

The per diem component has been used as a way to provide legislators with tax-free income, much more than their cost of living expenses in Juneau demand. This is because their base salary has, for all practical purposes, been inadequate. No other state officer enjoys this sort of per diem perk. If one believes in three equal branches, legislative compensation needs to change for the better.

Most legislators want to serve, be productive, and finish the work in a timely manner. Outside of legislative sessions, most put in hours in their interim offices attending to constituent business. The notion of a part-time legislator is not really a valid profile in this day and time. The State Officer Compensation Commission would do well to consider a greater increase in base legislative salary and the elimination of the per diem component all together.

Tim Benintendi is a former legislative aide and lives in Anchorage.

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