ST. PAUL, MN – Today, lawmakers in the Minnesota House of Representatives approved a bill authored by Rep. Jason Metsa (DFL—Virginia) that puts a constitutional amendment on the 2016 ballot to give Minnesotans the power to decide whether or not lawmakers should have the ability to set their own salary.
The bill (HF 1823) passed by a vote of 69-62. A similar bill passed the House with broad bipartisan support on a vote of 91-43 in 2008.
“The people of Minnesota ought to be the ones determining who sets legislative pay levels,” said Rep. Metsa. “We need to let voters have a say on this issue. This is about increasing transparency for our constituents and turning over the authority to them.”
The constitutional amendment would ask voters:
“Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to remove legislators’ ability to set their own salaries, and instead establish an independent, citizens-only council to prescribe salaries for legislators?”
Under the Minnesota Constitution, legislators are in charge of setting their own compensation. HF 1823 gives voters the ability to weigh in on this inherent conflict of interest.
If voters pass the amendment, legislators will no longer set their own salary and other forms of compensation. Instead, a compensation council of 16 citizens (8 people appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and 8 people appointed by the Governor) who would set legislative compensation. No former or current legislators or lobbyists could serve on the council.
The compensation council could choose to increase or decrease legislative pay, taking that decision out of the hands of state legislators as is currently prescribed in Minnesota’s Constitution.
The bill makes conforming changes to current law establishing the Compensation Council, which would go into effect if the Constitutional Amendment is adopted by the voters. The Compensation Council would still make recommendations to the Legislature for constitutional officers and the judicial branch, which would need to be passed by the Legislature to go into effect.