In case you missed it, Democrats plan to give themselves a massive pay increase (with a huge new benefit) totaling over $15 million per year! The media hasn’t covered this, but I think you ought to know.
Democratic legislators are proposing that each state legislator should be paid $100,000 per year and have a fully staffed office in the county in which they reside. Rep. Susan Herrera is even suggesting that legislators should have more than one staffed office if they represent more than one county.
They plan to sneak this by the public by calling it the “Legislature Modernization Plan,” but it should be called the “Incumbent Protection Plan.” The total cost of this late Christmas gift that progressives plan to give themselves will be over $15 million of taxpayer money per year.
State legislators currently get paid per diem and mileage reimbursement to cover expenses for serving in the state Legislature and have a shared centralized staff in Santa Fe to help with constituent needs.
The reality is that these offices will just serve as “Incumbent Legislator Reelection Centers.” They want the public to fund this legislator benefit, which ensures a tremendous advantage against any future political challenger. This isn’t even a secret, it has been talked about openly amongst legislators!
What is almost as offensive is that they may try to sneak a big portion of this massive gift to themselves through House Bill 1. HB1 is known as the feed bill because it is meant solely for the purpose of providing necessary funds to cover expenses of the legislative session. Because of this, it doesn’t go through the normal vetting process. The purpose of the feed bill isn’t so controversial expenditures can avoid public scrutiny!
If progressive legislators want to give themselves this massive gift, it should be approved by the voters with a referendum vote. This is much too big of a benefit for legislators to give themselves!
