Louisiana lawmakers approve pay raise bill

Pending no veto from Gov. Bobby Jindal, the salaries of Louisiana’s part-time lawmakers more than doubled Monday when Senate members voted 20-18 to approve their own pay raise, the first in 28 years.

But with the narrowly split vote also comes a divided line on who will accept the money, an optional pay raise that legislators had to decline or accept by 6 p.m. yesterday, after the press deadline for St. Tammany News.

At least one area legislator, Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, said he would either accept the money and set up a college scholarship foundation for area students or decline the money, sending it back into the state’s general fund.

“Either way, I’m not going to benefit from the money,” he said.

The raise under the heavily amended SB 672 increases base

pay for Louisiana legislators to the 14th highest in the country, up from $16,800 to $37,500, a roughly 120 percent surge, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Senate Bill 672 by Sen. Ann Duplessis, D-New Orleans, was scheduled for a vote Tuesday or Wednesday, but lawmakers suspended procedural rules Monday to bring the hot button issue to a quick vote. The move seemed only to heighten the public’s growing opposition to the bill that Jindal said he will not veto despite his own strong opposition.

“It’s a shame,” said Donahue who, alongside local Sens. Julie Quinn, R-Metairie, and A.G. Crowe, R-Slidell, voted against the revised pay raise. “This Legislature has done a lot of good, but we’re only going to be remembered as the ones who voted for the pay raise … I’m not really happy about it.”

Donahue, Quinn, Crowe and Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, are the only four state Senators representing St. Tammany Parish. Last week, Donahue and Quinn each voted against the Senate version of the bill that raised base pay roughly 300 percent to $50,700. Meanwhile, Crowe, who did not return numerous calls for comment, voted in favor of that bill. But Monday he voted against the amended House version worth $37,500 yearly.

Nevers cast a favorable vote for each version and said he intends to take the money. It was unclear if Crowe and Quinn intend to take the raise.

For now, the $37,500 base pay will grow 2 to 3 percent each year if and when the Consumer Price Index changes. The CPI is a model for tracking the national inflation rate, according to the amendment.

State Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington, who voted in favor of the bill, called that money crucial to attracting and retaining quality legislators.

“I didn’t do what was best for John Schroder, I did what was best for the body,” he said Monday. “You can’t expect anybody to spend the amount of time we spend in Baton Rouge and not make more money. It’s hard to understand what goes on here unless you are here. But it’s common sense.”

Others agreed. State Rep. Scott Simon, R-Abita Springs, said legislators have been in lawmaking sessions for the first six months out of the year, off for only a little more than three weeks. It’s more than a part-time job, he said, and that’s why he will accept the raise.

“I’m living out of my suitcase,” he said of the extended stay in Baton Rouge this year after Gov. Bobby Jindal called two special sessions. “It’s not a luxury or added bonus. It’s money to live here and do the people’s work.”

State Rep. Tim Burns, R-Mandeville, who voted for the raise, said other local legislators, whose jobs range from architects and engineers to developers and lawyers, are losing at least $50,000 a year when in session.

“We’re all taking a hit, so it was important we address it some sort of way,” Burns said, adding he plans to take the money and likely donate portions to charity.

Meanwhile Jindal has stuck to his earlier vow not to veto the bill, even as talk shows were inundated with callers angry at the vote and the governor. He said in a release he fears a veto would give lawmakers reason to halt his agenda.