AP: Plan would cut Ohio lawmakers’ pay

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Republicans in the Ohio Senate plan to introduce a state budget amendment that would cut lawmakers’ base salaries by 5 percent, a spokesman told The Associated Press on Saturday after Senate leadership met to review more than 500 amendments.

The state constitution prohibits a legislator’s salary from being changed during his or her term, so the cut could not take effect until the start of the next General Assembly. In the meantime, lawmakers could take the pay cut voluntarily, and Senate GOP leadership expects many members of the chamber would do so.

If passed, the cut would be the first major change in lawmakers’ pay since 2008, which marked the end of a phased-in pay raise that began in 2002, the spokesman said.

That increase has left the base salary for a senator at just under $60,600, an amount that doesn’t include thousands of dollars lawmakers can earn for serving in leadership roles in the chamber and its various committees, according to the Senate.

The GOP’s planned amendment would apply to all state lawmakers but not to other legislative staff, the spokesman said. The idea would have to be considered by the Republican-led House.

“I’m certain the members of our caucus would be generally supportive of that,” House GOP spokesman Mike Dittoe said.