Pay for Kansas lawmakers could double in 2025 after over a decade of stagnant wages

Pay for Kansas lawmakers may double in 2025.

A commission primarily composed of former members of the Kansas Legislature voted Thursday to increase lawmaker pay from about $29,000 annually to nearly $58,000 annually.

The raise will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025, if Kansas lawmakers do not vote next year to reject it.

For years Kansas lawmakers have been among the worst paid in the country. The pay rate for lawmakers has been stagnant at $88.66 per session day since 2009, though the per-diem rate to cover lawmaker expenses when they are in Topeka has changed over the years.

Earlier this year lawmakers voted to establish a commission that would study the pay rate and set changes that could be vetoed by the Legislature. Lawmakers argued the current pay structure made it financially unsustainable for a wide swath of Kansans to run for and stay in office.

The average age of Kansas lawmakers is 57. Proponents of the commission said a higher pay rate would encourage younger and less financially well off individuals to run for office. But others worried a high salary would incentivize people to stay in office just for the financial gain.

If lawmakers do not reject the new proposal, the pay structure will change from a daily rate to a flat $43,000 salary. In addition to that, lawmakers may receive additional pay for special sessions, and they will receive a per-day rate for lodging and meals in Topeka. That per-day rate is currently set at $166 daily. Assuming the normal 90-day-session, lawmakers would be paid just under $15,000 annually for the per-day rate.

The salary rate was set to be what pay would have been if lawmakers consistently applied a 2.5% increase every year since 2009. In the future, pay for lawmakers will automatically change based upon inflation.

The change would bring Kansas to slightly above the annual pay for Missouri lawmakers who are paid just under $37,000 annually plus $124 per session day according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average wage across all industries in Kansas in May 2022 was just under $53,000 annually.

Mark Hutton, a former Kansas lawmaker who led the commission, said the goal was to ensure a broader set of citizens could run for the Legislature.

“What we were trying to do here was develop a compensation package that would not incentivize but support people from our citizenry that wanted to serve in our Legislature and not punish them financially for doing it,” he said.

It’s unclear yet whether lawmakers will accept the increased salary.

“If that gets approved that makes a huge different for people’s ability to run and serve in the Legislature across Kansas and people who are currently extremely underrepresented, young people, working people, single mothers, people from different demographics and minority backgrounds and all people that are currently not able to run due to the compensation,” said. Rep. Lindsay Vaughn, an Overland Park Democrat and vocal supporter of pay raises.

In a statement, House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita republican, said he was grateful to the commission and “respect whatever they present as a final result of their work.” Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, said he looked forward to reviewing the proposal and discussing it with other members of the Senate.

Rep. Pat Proctor, a Leavenworth Republican who voted against the commission, said he believed the proposed compensation would discourage lawmakers from maintaining jobs outside politics, undercutting the goal of a citizen Legislature. Kansas lawmakers are in Topeka about 90 days each year, though many continue to provide constituent services and do legislative work year round.

He said he was not yet sure whether he would seek to reject the proposal.

“Our framers very wisely created our state government in a way that we would have to go back and have regular jobs and work in our communities right alongside our constituents,” Proctor said.

“This was never intended to be a job, this was intended to be public service … it should be a sacrifice. It shouldn’t be lucrative.”