Some Idaho legislators reject pay increase, here’s why

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) — Last week, the Citizen’s Committee for Legislative Compensation approved a 19% salary increase for Idaho legislators. Reasons for this include compensation for the lawmakers' work load, lack of support staff, and travel expenses. Some Idaho legislators are rejecting the proposed pay increase for all Idaho lawmakers until they see other changes take place.

The lawmakers fighting against this are introducing a resolution to reject the increase, calling on their colleagues to repeal the state-wide grocery tax this upcoming session. They say inflation makes this the wrong time to increase their salaries.

"And I cannot, in all good conscience, take that kind of an increase in my pay when I'm supposed to be a servant of the people working for them; when things are so tight and so tough, financially for the citizens of our state now," said Republican Senator Christy Zito.

Republican Senator Chuck Winder explained why he's for the salary increase. He said that the legislators are "basically" volunteers considering the workload to pay ratio.

Winder said the increase will attract new legislators in the future, which he said is important as current legislators age.

According to Ballotpedia, the base salary for an Idaho legislator is $19,913 during their 75 to 90 day legislative session.