Saturday, June 18, 2011
COLUMBUS
The Republican-controlled Ohio Senate has changed its tune on pay cuts for lawmakers.
In an amendment to the $55 billion-plus biennial budget, the chamber added language decreasing lawmaker pay by 5 percent.
The cut would not take effect until next term due to provisions in the state constitution that prohibit lawmakers from making changes to their pay rates mid-session. But legislators could volunteer to take the pay cut early, directing the extra money to Ohio’s Second Harvest Foodbanks.
“It’s something that we thought was important to let the residents and the taxpayers of the state of Ohio know that we’re willing to share in the sacrifice that we’re asking all Ohioans to take as part of this budget,” said Senate President Tom Niehaus, a Republican from New Richmond.
Not a done deal
The pay cut isn’t a done deal, yet. A conference committee made up of state senators and representatives will haggle over a final version in coming weeks before sending the two-year spending plan to Gov. John Kasich for his signature sometime before July 1, the start of the new state fiscal year.
This also isn’t the first time in recent history the pay cut issue has been debated. There are bills pending in both chambers calling for a decrease in legislator salary. And last session, Republicans and Democrats in the Ohio House backed a 5 percent salary cut and included that language in a bill freezing Ohio’s income tax rates.
But the provision was removed in the Ohio Senate and was not debated again before the session ended.
Then-Senate President Bill Harris didn’t support the move.
“I think, my personal opinion, is that the members that are here earn the pay that they’re being paid and if there’s a reason to cut their pay, then we would look at that,” he told me at the time “... I think all of the members that are here in relationship to their services and the time they spend doing that are earning the pay that they’re receiving.”
He added, “They’re quality people. They’re making a major commitment to be able to serve at the pay that they’re being paid. So I commend them for that.”
Kasich earlier this year, when asked about the issue, said he thought lawmakers should be treated like all other state employees. He also said the latter were getting raises, meaning, logically, that lawmakers should get raises, too.
But the Statehouse tune has changed.
Public pensions
Members of the Ohio General Assembly earn more than $60,000 a year, with those in leadership topping $85,000 or $90,000. They also get other perks, including public pensions, tax breaks for their time in Columbus and travel stipends.
Cutting lawmaker pay isn’t going to fill the purported multi-billion-dollar hole in the state budget. That’s not the point.
“The actual dollar amount is miniscule,” Niehaus said. “It’s not going to make much difference at all. It’s more about the statement that we’re making that this is important, that we recognize that this is a very difficult budget, and we feel that we should share in that sacrifice.”
Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. Email him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.