It's time to address legislative pay • Nebraska Examiner

If you have a pulse, I am sure you have either seen, heard or read a political ad this past year. With the plethora of TV, radio, newspaper and social media entities paid to run them, they would be pretty hard to miss.

With all the ads I have seen in the past 36 years, the most memorable ad for me is one I saw back in 1988. When the camera came on, you see the back of a man sitting at what appears to be the counter of a coffee shop somewhere in Nebraska. As the camera moves around toward his front, the announcer is talking about the fact that it has been 20 years since state senators in Nebraska have received any form of pay raise.

The voiceover tells you that in 1968, senators’ pay was raised from $200 to $400 per month. In 1988, the announcer says, there is a proposal on the ballot to raise senators’ pay to $1,000 per month. As the camera gets closer to the front, you start to recognize Coach Bob Devaney, who had been in Nebraska about 25 years by then and won two national championships. Devaney looks straight at the camera and says in a very serious tone:

“If I had been here 20 years and never got a pay raise, I would go back to Wyoming.”

The proposal passed.

It has now been 36 years since we last raised the compensation level for members of the Unicameral. We do still want and need a citizen legislature, but too many citizens simply cannot even consider putting themselves forward to seek election.

If you have a salaried job, you will have to consider the time that you will be away from work and may not get paid. If you own a business, you will need to consider the time you will not be available and perhaps need to hire another person to perform your duties. If you are a professional, you need to realize that you will not be getting as many billable hours and plan accordingly.

Many people are working longer now, and even some retired people do consulting after they have left the full-time workforce. These people also need to realize that they will not be able to bring in the extra income they were planning on.

The responsibilities of being a state senator have also changed and require more time than they did back in 1988. With all the additional forms of communication, constituents demand more information on legislative activity even when the Legislature is not in session. What new roads will be funded, what education funding will be on the agenda, what senior programs could be re-evaluated, what about health care, ag issues, taxes, etc. There are also more interim studies requested and hearings being held around the state.

The big issue, of course, will be how much to raise the current pay level, and there will be as many different suggestions as there are people who take a proposal seriously. I will start that discussion, but you also need to remember that state senators in Nebraska do not receive any health insurance, retirement fund contribution or other benefits that most working people get.

Instead of trying to come up with a number … what if the governor appointed a committee of people from around the state each census year who could set legislative pay at no more than 15% of what the average county judge makes in Nebraska?

It is still not a full-time job, and the pay should not be at a level that would allow someone to live comfortably on a senator’s pay alone. Senators should still have a connection to the workforce unless they are retired and have already fulfilled a career in the workforce.

I believe this or other credible proposals would allow more people to at least consider offering themselves and their time and talents to the legislative process, which will make important decisions about our state’s future growth and prosperity.