Minn. House to debate lawmaker pay hike panel
Published 10:19 am Friday, May 17, 2013
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota House is planning to vote on a constitutional amendment that would take decisions about their own pay out of their hands.
The House planned a Friday debate on the amendment. If put on the ballot and passed by voters, it would create a legislative pay council appointed by the governor and the chief justice of the Supreme Court. The amendment wouldn’t go to voters until 2016.
The governor and chief justice would each appoint one member from each of the state’s eight congressional districts. Membership would have to be split equally between the two political parties, and could not include current or former legislators.
The state Senate has passed a bill to give lawmakers their first pay raise in more than a decade, but that has met with criticism.
