By Howard Fischer | Arizona Capitol Times
Key Points:
- Lawmakers have introduced a variety of proposals to raise legislator pay
- Many say the current $24,000 salary, unchanged since 1998, is insufficient
- Voters could decide on a raise via ballot measure come Election Day
Katie Hobbs says when she was a state senator a decade ago she was making $24,000 a year.
“It wasn’t enough,” she said in a recent message to followers while asking for money for her reelection campaign.
But Hobbs, now governor and making $95,000 a year, is showing far less sympathy toward lawmakers who are still being paid the same $24,000.
“It’s certainly not sustainable to live on $24,000 a year,” she said in response to a question from Capitol Media Services. “But it is intended to be a part-time salary,” with sessions lasting — at least according to legislative rules — just four months a year, though that hasn’t happened in years.
