Posted on 06/12/2008 5:51:26 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
House pay bill vote due Friday
Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday he would let a bill that would triple legislators’ pay become law rather than use his veto pen.
House Speaker Jim Tucker told the state House of Representatives on Wednesday that the pay raise bill would be scheduled for a vote on Friday.
Jindal said he did not want to give legislators a reason to sidetrack the bills he wants passed.
“I don’t want to give anybody any excuse for slowing down any of the important reform going through the legislature (that are) important to the people of Louisiana,” Jindal said.
Jindal mentioned health care, education and tax initiatives pending legislative approval as the session nears a June 23 end.
Asked if he had been threatened by lawmakers, Jindal said he would not discuss private conversations with legislators.
Tucker, R-Terrytown, said he has urged Jindal to stay on the sidelines.
“I have never threatened the governor,” Tucker told House colleagues Wednesday after a political Web site said he had threatened Jindal with a “government shutdown.”
SB672 would increase legislators annual compensation package to about $70,000 and top legislative leaders to the $100,000 mark.
Jindal said he “strongly disagrees” with what he called “over the top” pay raises. But he said the Legislature is an independent branch of government and responsible for its own internal affairs.
At the very least, Jindal said, the pay raise should not take effect until the next legislative term after elections.
Meanwhile, the pay raise proposal approved Tuesday by the full-Senate cleared a House committee Wednesday. The action occurred with no debate and within five minutes of when the panel took up the measure.
The pay raise would cost taxpayers $5.34 million more annually when it goes into effect July 1.
Senate Finance Committee chairman Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, said there is no money in the budget for the pay raise. He said he’s trying to work within a state expenditure cap that already has led to cuts in health care and education.
The House and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 13-4 for the pay raise measure which now heads to the House for likely re-referral to its budget panel because of the cost.
The legislation would tie state legislators’ pay to a percentage of that of U.S. congressmen, which is $169,300 today. It would give lawmakers a boost now and guarantee them an increase every time congressmen hike their pay.
The base pay of a legislator would increase from $16,800 to $50,790 — 30 percent of congressional pay. The Senate president and House speaker’s base pay would hit $76,185 under the plan — 45 percent of congressional pay.
The head of the Legislature’s four money committees would get 35 percent of congressional pay as well as the president pro-tem in the Senate and speaker pro-tem in the House. That would mean a base pay of $59,255 for them.
Legislators would also continue to get $6,000 in annual unvouchered expense allowance, which is considered income by the federal Internal Revenue Service, as well as per diem payments that sit at $143 for each day they are in legislative session, attending non-session committee meetings or other transacting other legislative business.
The combination translates into a $70,000 a year pay package for rank-and-file lawmakers. The average, full-time state employee’s pay in Louisiana is $36,104 annually. The average Louisiana worker’s pay is $37,946, based on the 2006 census data.
Louisiana legislators’ base pay would be the eighth highest in the nation with the change, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
State Sen. Ann Duplessis, D-New Orleans, explained the bill, quickly ending with, “That’s all the bill does and I ask for your favorable passage.”
Committee Chairman Rep. Rick Gallot, D-Ruston, asked the committee to let the pay raise bill advance so the full House could vote on it.
Rep. Dee Richard, No Party-Thibodaux, objected.
Here’s how the committee voted when it approved the pay raise bill.
Voting FOR the pay raise (13): Chairman Gallot and Reps. Pat Connick, R-Harvey, Greg Cromer, R-Slidell, Noble Ellington, D-Winnsboro, Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, Cameron Henry, R-Jefferson, Girod Jackson, D-Marrero, Rosalind Jones, D-Monroe, Tony Ligi, R-Kenner, Charmaine Marchand, D-New Orleans, Erich Ponti, R-Baton Rouge, Steve Pugh, R-Ponchatoula, and Mert Smiley, R-St. Amant.
Voting AGAINST the pay raise (4): Reps. Taylor Barras, D-New Iberia, Mike Danahay, D-Sulphur, Richard, and Jane Smith, R-Bossier City.
NOT VOTING (2) Reps. Karen Peterson, D-New Orleans, and Wayne Waddell, R-Shreveport.
Additional stories.
http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080612/NEWS01/806120314
House to debate pay raises on Friday
http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080612/OPINION01/806120312/1014/OPINION
Pay raises: Well-oiled scam
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/19813634.html
Jindal won’t stop raise
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1213248670134190.xml&coll=1
Raise breezes onto House floor
http://www.thedeadpelican.com/2008/lactioncouncil.htm
http://louisianaconservative.com/?p=526
http://www.houghpublishing.com/Jindal_must_veto.html
http://www.rogersrants.com/blog/default.aspx?id=193&t=An-Open-Letter-to-Lawmakers-Supporting
An Open Letter to Lawmakers Supporting Pay Raises
The lad better toughen up, and quick.
To call Gov. Jindal, dial 225-342-7015...tell him to grow a pair and veto the bill.If he is the future of the Republican party, he needs to toughen up against these RINOs.
We need a windfall profits/wage tax on congress and the senate!
Wow, in a state that still screams how they were left to die. Good to be the king....fish.
Taxpayers are struggling to pay the bills because of high gas prices, increasing food prices and still paying for Katrina in our electric bill payment and these clowns have the AUDACITY to want to take tax money to give themselves a RAISE? Give me a break.
Well, at least we won't be last in something.
[/s]
Jindal not only blinked in this stare-down, he absolutely flinched. This lack of a political backbone is going to come back to haunt him the rest of his career.
This can’t be good for Jindal either.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/bobby_jindals_dance_with_the_d.php
~snip~
As others noted during his 2003 and 2007 gubernatorial campaigns (see update), in an essay Jindal wrote in 1994 for the New Oxford Review, a serious right-wing Catholic journal, Jindal narrated a bizarre story of a personal encounter with a demon, in which he participated in an exorcism with a group of college friends. And not only did they cast out the supernatural spirit that had possessed his friend, Jindal wrote that he believes that their ritual may well have cured her cancer.
~snip~
I don’t know, I think this was just some old fashioned horse trading. Dumping the Stelly plan is a huge deal and it will save Louisiana taxpayers a lot more then what they’ll lose by this salary increase.
sw
Columnist
Pay raise on everyone’s lips
Bobby
Here’s another keeper vote for the next round of lege elections. On Wednesday, the House and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 13 to 4 to support the massive lege pay raise.
The most interesting thing about the vote, according to the vote (below), is that 8 of the 13 are Republicans. But for the support of the “smaller-government, fiscally-conservative” crowd, the lege pay raise would have been killed in committee. Of the 8 Republicans, 6 have been in office less than 6 months.
The leges are so overworked and under-paid that they want their pay raise effective July 1, 2008. However, they voted to delay the taxpayers a small increase (SB 87) in their paychecks until July 1, 2009.
According to House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Algiers: “If we’re going to have an educated, qualified Legislature, you have to have decent pay,...” Associated Press, June 11, 2008. In other words, the current group of leges is uneducated and unqualified. To which I say: AMEN!
During the next lege elections lets vote out all these uneducated and unqualified folks. ALL OF THEM!
C.B. Forgotston
Hmm, I didn’t know about the tuition. I’m still in wait and see mode myself, if he’s taking small losses now for bigger gains later then I’m all for it.
Are these people part-time? Who works for $16,000?
$70,000 is hardly outrageous. Why should he sacrifice his own agenda over $5 million a year?
“Bobby” is proving himself to be a Paper Tiger.
At least for “Bobby” this will help his win the VP slot on McCain’s RINO Ticket.
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