Legislator pay promotes accountability, ethics, and equity

The low pay limits who can serve and puts those who do at risk with conflicts of interest.

Oregon’s elected officials in Salem are some of the most scrutinized members in our communities across the state. And there’s a good reason for that.

These 90 representatives and senators have the enormous responsibility of serving their constituents, drafting new laws and writing the biennial budget. It’s a job Oregonians expect that legislators do well, without conflicts of interest, and with meaningful results that make us all better off.

Despite the false advertisement that being a legislator is part-time job, it’s anything but. Long hours of debate, lawmaking, funding the government, and meeting with constituents is all done in exchange for a meager $32,839 year. This dismally low level of compensation has adverse effects on legislator capacity, conflicts of interest, and the overall demographic makeup of the legislative body.

First, low pay affects your legislators’ capacity to serve efficiently. For members who have the privilege of serving their communities – undoubtedly – financial constraints make service more difficult. A full-time job on the side (or two in some cases) is essential for many to pay the bills and stay financially stable.

But every hour worked in another job is one hour withheld from public service. This means there is less time to work on bills ahead of legislative sessions, less time with constituents in their district, and less time to learn about issues at a depth that is necessary to competently deliberate on complex issues. Imagine working a full-time job and somehow finding time to learn about 20 different issues as complex as overtime for agricultural workers, or biennial privilege taxes on merchantable forest products.

With all the mounting work, you might feel compelled to call it quits, and that is exactly what many legislators eventually do.

Second, the financial necessity for legislators to keep a second job raises the risk of potentially harmful conflicts of interest. Legislators could arrive in Salem not only with their duty to serve their constituents, but with biases connected with potentially powerful industries that employ them. In 2021, 18 legislators were reported to also have been commercial or residential landlords. Depending on their sources of income or their employer, legislators may find differences between the wishes of their constituents and the interests of their industry.

These additional income streams raise a risk that Oregonians should not have to worry about: is your legislator voting for you, or for something else entirely?

Finally, at its very worst, keeping legislator pay low prevents many individuals from even considering the prospect of serving. Oregon is home to many talented BIPOC leaders from community-based organizations who have enormous potential in making valuable contributions to our state through public service. Unfortunately, the common pattern heard among these leaders is that the low rate of compensation acts as a significant financial barrier for themselves and their families.

The Legislature is only worse off by excluding these brilliant leaders from public service.

The only way for the Legislature to address these ongoing issues of legislator capacity, ethics, and equity is to compensate its members at a salary that does not generate serious risk of financial hardship, conflicts of interest, and a disproportionately white membership. Senate Bill 1566 makes a modest and sustainable proposal of raising legislator pay in reference to state income data, specifically the annual average wage for all covered employees in Oregon in the prior year. That amount of compensation would be around $63,464 per year.

SB 1566 addresses a multitude of issues. It allows legislators to focus more of their time on public service. It relieves them of potentially harmful conflicts of interest associated with the industries for which they work. And most importantly, it addresses the serious equity issue that public service is financially out of reach for people of color who otherwise would make excellent elected officials.

This not about raising legislator pay. This is about promoting government accountability, ethical legislating, and equitable opportunities for community members to serve. The time is now to pass SB 1566.