Two fairly recent legislative pay raises in Kentucky have been a little unusual. Switching to annual sessions in 2001 simply gave lawmakers more paydays. Sweetening their pensions in 2005 has allowed a growing number of legislators to game the system by switching to jobs in the judicial or executive branches of government and receiving unearned retirement benefits.
It's time for another bite of this apple. But here is the twist: we already pay House and Senate members to sit around and do nothing the first month of election years (despite one recent effort to fix this). Why not just give them less to do? If we remove some of the heavy lifting -- which they are hesitant to do anyway -- and pay them the same, that would be like paying them more, wouldn't it? And it just might lead to better government in the state.
What I'm talking about is amending the state constitution to allow for voter-driven ballot initiatives. For things like Certificate of Need repeal, prevailing wage repeal, Right to Work, meaningful education reform, and serious pension reforms that too many politicians are too afraid to touch anyway, why don't we empower the people to work around them to get the job done?
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The next Kentucky legislator pay increase
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3 comments:
Good thoughts. You are right. The politicians do not have the courage to take on the tough issues that might jeopardize a vote or a relationship or a sweet contract. After all, they are not personally accountable because they are just one of many legislators and can hide in the crowd. The people need to do the legislator's job. It is clear the elected officials will not do their job objectively and reflect what's best for the taxpayers.
Great idea! How do we get it done?
We have to amend the constitution.
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