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Sunday, September 05, 2004

Indiana Law - Compensation of General Assembly members

The Indianapolis Star has an informative editorial today about legislative compensation, explaining that things are not precisely as they appear. The title is "Behind the curtain: legislators' compenation." It begins:

John Bartlett * * *, chairman of the Public Officers Compensation Advisory Commission, notes that legislators haven't received a pay raise in 21 years.

Yet Bartlett admits he didn't check out legislators' perks. Like the $134 per day each one receives during sessions for food and lodging expenses. It adds up to an additional $8,174 a year. Then there's the state's match of $4 for every buck a legislator contributes to his pension. Legislators, by the way, inexcusably voted this year to keep the size of those pensions secret.

Why didn't the commission take those extras and others into account? Because, Bartlett says, the statute creating the panel charged it with considering "wages and wages only."

The Star piece continues:
The Star Editorial Board decided to pull back the curtain and do its own examination of the rewards lawmakers receive. The perks include a generous pension, dinners and gifts from lobbyists, the ability to go to work as a lobbyist immediately after leaving office and lawmakers hired as deans at state universities. With all this, and the state's mounting fiscal problems, it's no wonder Hoosiers reacted with suspicion at the commission's recommendation.
The Star goes on to detail the perks, in five sections with headings such as "Pension secrets." That section explains:
The General Assembly this year passed a bill making details of individual legislators' pensions secret. Only four lawmakers voted against the measure. State Rep. Tom Saunders, R-Lewisville, was one of them. He says: "If I'm generating revenue from the taxpayers, they need to know how much."

Most of his colleagues, however, don't agree. Perhaps it's arrogance. Or frustration with the flak they receive for proposing pay raises. But the legislature has taken the tack that the best way to deal with compensation is by granting themselves sweet deals without public consultation.

Take for instance then-Gov. Frank O'Bannon's veto of legislation that would have given health benefits to former legislators who served a mere six years in office.

In response, Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Garton and then-Speaker John Gregg invoked a 2001 law and signed off on funding the perk from the general fund. Forget the budget deficit. And forget the fact that ordinary state employees' salaries haven't kept up with inflation. Lawmakers took care of their own desires.

Regular readers will recall that the ILB posted a number of entries on "PERF privacy" earlier this year, including this one, which begins:
Last evening Governor Kernan announced that he had signed into law HEA 1285. As a result, the law is now in effect, retroactive to September 1, 2003. This new law will prevent anyone from accessing PERF information, other than member names and years of service, through a FOIA request.
A quote from a Star editorial of 3/20/04 reads:
If Kernan wins the November election, he'll confront a legislature that sealed most pension records in 2001 and quietly passed legislation this session that closes off the rest. When he signed the latter bill into law Thursday, Kernan proclaimed that all employees should be treated equally but neglected to mention, among other details, that the measure serves the most equal employees of all.

Legislators, who receive four tax dollars for every dollar they contribute, are the biggest beneficiaries of the newly secret funds, which also enroll judges and prosecutors. It hardly seems a coincidence that the law denying access was passed retroactive to requests by news organizations to view the records. Media investigations in other states have turned up millions in misappropriated public employee pension funds.

For more ILB entries on this topic, use the search box in the right column.

[More] The Evansville Courier&Press also has an editorial today on the recommendations of the pay commission. One of the concluding paragraphs reads:

Our Supreme Court justices receive only $115,000 per year, and Appeals Court judges only $110,000. That's a pittance compared with what they could make in private law practice. Without pay commensurate with the position, Indiana will not long find people of high competence and ability willing to sit on its judiciary and decide complex matters of supreme importance to Hoosiers.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 5, 2004 04:24 PM
Posted to Indiana Law | Legislative Benefits