DENVER The Senate gave final approval to a bill that funds a hike in per diem pay for rural lawmakers Wednesday morning on a 21-13 vote.
Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, voted for House Bill 1301. She will be one of the 41 lawmakers whose per diem pay will rise to $183 next year, up from the current $150.
I dont want only the independently wealthy to be in the state Legislature, Roberts said in an interview.
Lawmakers get a base salary of $30,000 a year. In addition, they can claim per diem pay for every day of the 120-day session. Denver-area lawmakers get $49 a day, and lawmakers outside the metro area get $150 a day. A 2007 bill linked rural per diem to the federal governments rate, so every year it automatically rises or, in rarer cases, falls.
In debate on the bill Tuesday, one lawmaker publicly spoke against the bill, while six defended it.
Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, said the concept of a citizen legislature doesnt really exist anymore.
We dont work four months out of the year. We work 12 months out of the year, Tochtrop said. If you do not provide compensation to the legislators, youre not going to get good legislators.
Sen. Jeanne Nicholson, D-Black Hawk, was the only senator to oppose the bill in public debate.
I dont think that its an appropriate time for us to give a per diem increase to some of our state legislators. We know that many of the people in Colorado are still struggling financially, and it is not a good time for us to increase our revenues in any way, Nicholson said.
House Bill 1301 sets aside $34 million to pay for the Legislatures operations next year. A sliver of that amount $189,000 is for an increase in the daily pay rural lawmakers can claim during the session.
The bill itself does not hike the per diem rate. It merely sets aside the money to fund the raise that was already created in state law in 2007.
It would take a separate bill to put the raise on hold. Legislators did pass a bill to freeze per diem pay in 2010, but so far this year, no one has sponsored a similar bill.
Three Republicans and 10 Democrats voted no, including Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, who had been a co-sponsor of the bill.
This does not impact my pay and I support additional help for our rural lawmakers, but Im voting no because, right now, with our severe budget issues, I feel its just not the right time, Shaffer said in a prepared statement.
He is running for Congress in the Eastern Plains district. One of the Republican no votes came from Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, who is running for Congress in the northern Front Range district.
HB 1301 now goes to Gov. John Hickenlooper for final approval. He has not said whether he will sign it, but he has publicly supported the idea of raising the per diem for rural lawmakers.
