:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/adn/HSBBHL6EWBFXDLLNYPL5NF2XWY.JPG?ssl=1 "3-member panel recommends automatic salary adjustments for Alaska governor, cabinet, lawmakers")
JUNEAU — A three-member panel recommended Wednesday that Alaska’s governor, cabinet members and lawmakers receive automatic pay adjustments every odd-number year moving forward.
The recommendation sets in motion pay changes for the state’s top political officials based on the Anchorage consumer price index. That means that salaries would likely rise every other year, though they could also go down if the cost of living declines. The change — unless rejected by lawmakers — would go into effect in 2027.
The proposal comes two years after the same panel recommended steep compensation boosts, including a 20% increase for the governor and his cabinet, and a 67% increase for lawmakers, following several years with no changes in pay.
The pay guidance was issued by the State Officers Compensation Commission, which is required under law to issue recommendations every other year. The recommendations then go into effect automatically unless lawmakers pass legislation disapproving of them.
Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican, said Wednesday that he was not in favor of automatic salary adjustments, and lawmakers might vote to reject the commission’s proposal.
“I don’t like the idea of having an automatic increase because our budget is so tenuous,” said Stevens. “We just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Rep. Andy Josephson, an Anchorage Democrat, said he thought he was already “well compensated.”
“I’m hearing no interest from legislators in further adjustments to their salary,” said Josephson.
The commission — whose members are appointed by the governor and legislative leaders — was created to avoid direct conversations by lawmakers and the governor about how much they should get paid and when they should receive raises.
But the commission’s intended impartiality was largely sidestepped in 2023, when Gov. Mike Dunleavy fired all commission members after lawmakers rejected their proposal, which would have raised pay for the governor but not for lawmakers. The governor then appointed an all-new five-member commission, which approved a new proposal, paving the way for both lawmakers and the governor to receive pay raises with virtually no public input.
Three commissioners have since resigned from the commission, and Dunleavy replaced only one of them, leaving the panel with just three members, the minimum needed to issue recommendations.
Commissioners include former Education Commissioner Larry LeDoux, Fairbanks Economic Development Corp. President Jomo Stewart and Republican former Rep. Lynn Gattis.
The commission’s recommendations this year could largely render the panel’s future meetings and intended purpose moot, by ensuring that lawmakers and the governor’s pay are updated every other year, even without public comment or review.
But commissioners signaled they would support future legislation to require the commission to continue to meet and prepare recommendations every other year. Such legislation has not been introduced this year.
Lawmakers are currently compensated $84,000. All but Juneau lawmakers can also receive $307 per-day tax-free during legislative sessions, adding roughly $37,000 to their annual income.
The governor is paid $176,000. The lieutenant governor is paid $140,000. Cabinet members earn $168,000.
The average salary for state employees was just over $82,000 in 2024, according to data from the state.
The potential approval of pay increases for the state’s top officials comes as lawmakers say pay raises may be needed also for the state’s rank-and-file workforce. Some legislators have raised alarm over a move from the Dunleavy administration to block the release of results of a salary study commissioned last year to investigate whether pay increases were needed to address an ongoing recruitment and retention challenge in state agencies.
