House committee advances bill to raise pay for lawmakers, statewide elected officials

A panel of House lawmakers approved legislation Wednesday that would increase pay for legislators and statewide elected officials by $10,000.

The House Appropriations Committee passed House Study Bill 750 on a 17-8 vote. The bill raising salaries for legislators and statewide elected officials advanced quickly in the expected final days of session. The measure was introduced Tuesday, and a subcommittee unanimously approved it the same day.

Lawmakers quickly moved on the bill during the committee meeting, with Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, saying that it is “a good bill, it’s good for Iowa.”

During the subcommittee meeting on the legislation, lawmakers spoke more in depth about the need for a pay increase. Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison, said no one likes to talk about giving themselves a pay raise, but that legislators need to face the “reality” that action must be taken to ensure that all Iowans are able to realistically consider serving in office.

“The unfortunate reality we face is: Do we want our Legislature made up of a bunch of rich folks and retired folks?” Holt asked. “Because that’ll be the only ones that can afford to serve up here. Or do we want the representation of the Legislature to be based upon the people of Iowa?”

The bill would increase the pay for Iowa representatives and senators to $35,000 a year, as well as raising the pay for lawmakers in leadership positions including House speaker, Senate president and each chamber’s majority and minority leaders to $47,500. The House speaker pro tempore and Senate president pro tempore would earn a salary of $37,000.

The bill would also grant a $10,000 raise to statewide elected officials, putting Gov. Kim Reynolds’ salary at $140,000 and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird at $133,669. Other elected officials, including Iowa’s secretary of state, state auditor, treasurer and secretary of agriculture would all have their salaries increase to $133,212 annually.

These increases would go into effect starting in the 2025 legislative session. Beginning in 2026, the bill would apply a cost-of-living adjustment each year to legislators’ pay equal to the average adjustments negotiated by public collective bargaining units representing workers like police officers and government employees.

Current salaries — legislators make $25,000 annually — have been brought up in retirement speeches as lawmakers seek to end the session. Rep. Phil Thompson, R-Boone, said during his retirement speech earlier in April that while he enjoyed serving as a legislator, he could not afford to continue to serve as he and his wife are expecting their first child, Radio Iowa reported.

“As rewarding as this work is, it really isn’t cut out for working age families,” Thompson, 33, said. “You guys should really fix that if you want a representative government.”

The Iowa Legislature generally meets four months out of the year and many lawmakers maintain other employment.

Rep. Joel Fry, R-Osceola, said Tuesday “we’ll see where where we go” with the bill this year, as it has not been agreed upon with Senate Republicans or the governor. He also echoed others’ comments about why the pay increase is needed.

“I think it’s very modest increase actually, what we’re looking at here on this bill, and also believe that if we want the representation of people across Iowa to serve in this role, that we have to look into that we’re paying those folks to be here,” Fry said.