The pay to state legislators varies dramatically from state to state. In one state, it’s zero and in another state it’s $100 per year. At the high end, it reaches $119,702 per year.
Do we get better governance from legislatures in which the politicians are paid more? The quick answer is no. If anything, it’s the other way around. The two legislatures in which politicians are paid the most are arguably the states that are among the worst governed. And a number of the states where politicians are paid modestly or very little have some of the best governance. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports all the data here.
These are the opening paragraphs of my “Does Higher Pay to Legislators Lead to Better Governance?” TaxBytes, Institute for Policy Innovation, January 11, 2023.
Another excerpt:
On the other end, New Mexico legislators are paid zero. Instead, they get a per diem of $202 per day. By far the lowest paid legislators, when you include per diems, is New Hampshire: Legislators’ base pay is $100 for the year and their per diem is zero. Their only monetary pay is 58.5 cents per mile for driving to and from the state capital in Concord.
And what do people in New Hampshire get in return for this low pay? Let’s see. They pay no sales tax and no income tax. That sounds like a good deal to me.
Read the whole thing, which is short.
READER COMMENTS
Jon Murphy
Jan 13 2023 at 8:40am
There’s a joke in NH politics. The General Court (the official name of the legislature) is often called the “State Retirement Home.” Because the representatives get almost no money, the General Court is almost exclusively retirees; the average age is about 66 years old (for context, that makes NH the oldest legislature in the nation, about 10 years older than the national average). Much of the reason for the age is because of the no pay.
It’s also worth noting that the physical state house is not large enough to house the entire General Court at the same time (the Court is huge, about 400 members). Business is often live-streamed, but often the representatives lack the desire to learn new technology that often there isn’t a quorum for business.*
*At least, this quorum issue was the case when I lived in NH from 2011-2016. Things probably changed now with COVID.
David Henderson
Jan 13 2023 at 11:51am
Thanks, Jon. Interesting.
Mark Barbieri
Jan 13 2023 at 10:57am
I’d be interested to see how time in session correlates to legislative outcomes. In Texas, I believe that our legislature only meets every other year and then for only 140 days in a year. It’s often enough to do what needs to be done. I suspect that the marginal value of meeting more would be low and, at some point, negative.
David Henderson
Jan 13 2023 at 11:53am
In 2000, I was on a panel on drug policy at a conference in Florida at which a representative from the Texas state government spoke. He pointed out that the legislature met only every second year.
Komori
Jan 14 2023 at 12:33pm
Well, every other year is the theory, at least. The governor can call special sessions in off-years, and they happen often
David Henderson
Jan 14 2023 at 1:21pm
Thanks.
Mark Brophy
Jan 13 2023 at 11:47am
The article is short because it’s very superficial. As Jon Murphy points out, a legislature filled will old people isn’t better than one with middle-aged people. The best way to avoid bad legislation is not by low legislator pay but by enacting supermajority requirements in the constitution.
David Henderson
Jan 13 2023 at 11:54am
You write:
Any evidence that that works better than low pay, Mark? Or is your comment superficial?
Mark Brophy
Jan 15 2023 at 1:31am
Given that you lived in California during a period where the state budget required a supermajority and the Democrats didn’t have a supermajority, I think that you could write a blog post on the topic. You could also discuss Switzerland, where a supermajority of 65% Germans is not sufficient to pass legislation without starting a civil war. They also try to reach a consensus even if it takes a long time.
David Henderson
Jan 15 2023 at 10:53am
Are you sure that passing a budget required a supermajority? I thought it was just tax increases that require a supermajority.
Jon Murphy
Jan 13 2023 at 11:58am
For the record, I didn’t say that. I loved the fact the NH General Court didn’t do anything.
Monte
Jan 13 2023 at 12:00pm
And what are we getting in return?
Study Finds New Mexico as the worst state to live in
Not that there’s necessarily any correlation (it’s more a matter of policy than pay-for performance). Interestingly, the same study puts New York at #3 and California at #27.
Henry
Jan 13 2023 at 12:21pm
Maybe the correlation is poor because the pay is too low to make any difference. We pay quarterbacks and CEOs ten of millions. The curve of salary vs. quality might not reach an inflection point till we get to some serious number. As long as we are in the chump change range of incomes we won’t see any effect. A Formula One team with a $100,000 budget won’t get better results than one with a $5,000 budget; to see an effect you have to expend serious money.
David Henderson
Jan 14 2023 at 1:37pm
Why do you think the correlation is poor. I’ve just eyeballed the data, admittedly, but it seems to me that the correlation is fairly high.
Mark Brophy
Jan 15 2023 at 1:37am
Did the high pay for legislators in CA and NY happen before or after the government grew large? I suspect that only big governments will grant big pay to legislators. CT had no income tax for decades but grew sharply after enacting an income tax. Did legislator pay increase along with the size of government?
vince
Jan 13 2023 at 5:16pm
Of course, direct pay is only one form of compensation. For example at the federal level, at least anecdotally, net worths go up much faster than salaries would justify.
Anders Jönsson
Jan 16 2023 at 5:21am
Here in Europe, most legislators receive full time salaries. By far the highest paid are Italian parliamentarians – and are exempt from income tax and often have opportunities to double or triple their incomes in various labyrinthine ways. Their Swedish colleagues receive the equivalent of 7.000 USD per month, or half that after payroll and income taxes, putting them on the lower rungs of the upper middle class.
I leave it to everyone to figure out how pay relates to quality of governance…
Comments are closed.