Next year’s Minnesota legislators are going to get a 45 percent raise.

An independent council, created by a voter-approved constitutional amendment, will raise state lawmakers’ salary from $31,100 to $45,000.

“Since it is a citizen-Legislature, I think we have to be conscientious and not give them such a raise that the normal average citizen would say, ‘Wow’,” said Diana Burlison, one of the members of the council.

Lawmakers’ pay has not risen for nearly two decades. That’s in large part because lawmakers feared voter backlash if they gave themselves a bump. But a constitutional amendment approved last year took the power to set legislator salaries away from the lawmakers and gave it to the new citizen-driven council. The constitutional amendment passed with 76 percent of the vote in November.

Members of the council — some appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton and some by Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea — are a mix of Republicans and Democrats and come from across the state. They spent weeks delving into legislative salaries in Minnesota and other states and considered other benefits lawmakers receive. Generally, they concluded, lawmakers, who are theoretically part-time, work about 70-percent-time.

CONCERNS ABOUT PER DIEM

Many of the council members said they were concerned about the per diem expense payments lawmakers receive. The House per diem, set by House members, is $66 a day and the Senate per diem, set by its members, is $86 per day. On average, those per diems cost the state $2 million a year.

The salary increase could be higher “if we didn’t have the per diem,” said council member David Metzen. He suggested per diem payments, which average about $7,000 annually per lawmaker, have been a “backdoor” salary bump for legislators.

“This per diem thing has to be addressed,” he said.

Lawmakers are eligible to take per diem payments during sessions, which generally last three to five months, and can also be eligible for the expense payments in between the regular sessions. To receive the payments, they simply need to ask for it — they do not need to submit paperwork.

The constitutional amendment did not give the council power over the per diem payments or other benefits — only salaries. But the council made clear on Friday that it wants the Legislature to re-examine its per diem system and perhaps eliminate it.

Additionally, legislators who live outside the metro area get a housing allowance to help pay for their Capitol-area lodging. And all legislators are eligible for health care and retirement benefits.

“I came in not knowing what the Legislature was paid even and found that it was a lot more complicated than I expected,” said Tom Stinson, the longtime, now retired, state economist, who chairs the Legislative Salary Council.

Council members voted 13-1 on Friday to approve the raise. Kenneth Wilmes was the lone vote against it.

“I was really hoping for something less than that,” Wilmes said.

The council’s work is not done. It still needs to agree on a final report and send that to the Legislature and the governor. By law, it must submit that report by March 31. The salary increase would take effect on July 1.

The Legislature still will debate the salaries because it needs to approve the funding. On Monday, the House could consider a measure to pay for whatever salaries the council sets.

HOW WILL THE PUBLIC REACT?

Legislative salaries — even at the higher level — make up only a tiny fraction of the state’s $45 billion budget. But they get huge attention.

Council member James Joy, like others, was aware of the impact of the work. Related Articles Gov. Walz, Minnesota’s pointman on COVID-19, looks back with some regret

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“When we come out with a $14,000 increase, it’s going to make headlines and we’re going to be not a popular group,” he said.

The new salary, according to council members and council documents, keeps legislators’ salaries well below the median Minnesota household income and does not keep pace with inflation or the increase in congressional salaries since it was last set in 1999.

Asked about the salary increase, House Ways & Means Committee chairman Jim Knoblach, R-St. Cloud, said: “I don’t know what to say.”

https://twitter.com/PatGarofalo/status/840291026770231299

House Speaker Kurt Daudt, a Republican from near Crown, had no comment, a spokeswoman said.

Freshman Rep. Randy Jessup, R-Shoreview, said moving the salary up will be a good thing for some legislators but “it’s going to be dicey” to get the Legislature to approve the funding for the salary.

Dayton, a Democrat who has long said the legislative salaries are too low, was a fan of the upward direction of the pay grade.

“Good,” he said Friday morning. “Hopefully, the Legislature will provide the funding necessary and we can get this off the backs of legislators who made the real commitment of time and finances in order to serve, and they serve Minnesota very well.”

David Montgomery contributed to this report.