As a committee recommends pay raise for state lawmakers, some legislators are ready to reject the increase

TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Earlier this month a committee approved increasing pay for Idaho State lawmakers

(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)

A citizen's committee on legislative compensation met earlier this month... And approved raises for Idaho's State Legislators, but not all lawmakers are are on board

"Principles will just not allow me to vote for myself to have a 22% increase," State Senator Glenneda Zuiderveld told Idaho News 6.

Idaho legislators can not increase their own pay. By law, a citizen's committee of six people sets compensation for state senators and representatives every two years.

This year, the committee found that — though compensation had increased over the past 20 years — it hadn't increased by as much as other state employees.

Keep in mind, the legislature is a part-time commitment — roughly 88 days out of the year — and most lawmakers have other full-time employment.

The committee agreed on a base salary of $25,000, plus compensation for daily meals and travel expenses.

The new salary represents 40% of the median state employee salary

Although legislators can't set their own compensation, they can lower, or reject it when the session starts in January.

One group of legislators has already promised to bring a concurrent resolution to reject the increase on day one of the 2025 session.

Republican senator Glenneda Zuiderveld of Twin Falls ... says its a show of solidarity with her constituents (??)

"I would like to see us give him a grocery that's going to be an easy lift and they can immediately and then also see where we can maybe bring down the property tax," Zuiderveld said. "Just where we can give them some relief before we, as legislators, ever see any increase."

Zuiderveld tells me she's optimistic the incoming legislature will agree - that a raise would be the wrong move

"I do believe that many of them will join this because i know they're going to see the same thing we've seen when we've been campaigning, and i don't i don't believe that they're going to agree to give themselves that big of an increase when their constituents are barely getting by," Zuiderveld said.