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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Rawson

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/22/08

HB

SHORT TITLE Legislative Salaries

SJR 2

ANALYST Fernandez

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY08

FY09

FY10 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

2,890.9

2,890.9 Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Senate Joint Resolution 2 proposes to amend Article 4, Section 10 of the New Mexico

Constitution to provide an annual salary for legislators and to permit payment of mileage once

per week during a legislative session.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

SJR2 proposes to amend the constitution to provide an annual salary for each member of the

legislature that is 15 percent of the salary for United States congressional representatives and

Senators.

The current 2008 salary for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $169,300 per year.

Leaders of the House and Senate are paid a higher salary than rank-and-file members as follows:

o

Senate Majority Leader - $188,000 x .15 = $28,200

o

Senate Minority Leader - $188,000 x .15 = $28,200

o

House Majority Leader - $188,000 x .15 = $28,200

o

House Minority Leader - $188,000 x .15 = $28,200

o

Speaker of the House - $217,400 x .15 = $32,610

o

Rank-and-File - $169,300 x .15 = $25,395

Based on the salaries listed about the cost to provide an annual salary of $25,395 for 107

legislators would be $2,717,265; the cost to provide an annual salary of $28,200 for leaders of

the House and Senate, including Speak of the House would be $145,410 for a total cost of

$2,890,875.

Senate Joint Resolution 2 – Page

2

SJR 2 also proposes to reimburse legislators for mileage once per week during the legislative

session. Currently, legislators are reimbursed mileage for one round trip during each legislative

session. The cost to implement this requirement would depend on the number of legislators

requesting mileage reimbursement once per week and distance traveled. The cost would also

vary depending on a 30 or 60 day legislative session.

Depending on when the proposal would be approved by the voters would determine the fiscal

year when the impact would occur.

Secretary of State may incur additional expenses to place this proposal on the ballot at the next

general election. The exact costs are unknown but should be minimal.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Legislative compensation was an issue considered by the Governor’s Task Force on Ethics

Reform and was considered by the Legislative Structure and Process Study Task Force.

In the 2006 Governor’s Task Force on Ethics Reform, Report of Recommendations, the task

force recommended $10,000 annually for legislative expense reimbursement accounts. “Funds

from the legislative expense reimbursement accounts should be used by legislators to pay for the

expenses directly related to their legislative duties. Such expenses might include staff,

telephone, travel and other constituent service-related expenses. Legislators should only be paid

for expenses incurred." The recommendation anticipated that some legislators would receive

less than the annual amount of $10,000.

The December 2007 Final Report of The Legislative Structure and Process Study Task Force

contains a recommendation for an amendment to Article 4, Section 10 of the Constitution of

New Mexico to repeal legislative per-diem and mileage and create a “Legislative Compensation

Commission" to set the compensation of members of the legislature every 10 years.

Information comparing salaries and expenses for legislators in other states is contained in

Appendix B of the Final Report of The Legislative Structure and Process Study Task Force.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

Passage of this proposal would result in additional administrative duties to Legislative Council

Service for the processing of the weekly payments.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Currently, Article 4, Section 10 provides the compensation of legislative members to per diem at

the internal revenue service per diem rate for the city of Santa Fe during legislative sessions and

the internal revenue service standard mileage rate for each mile traveled to and from the seat of

government. As of January 2008, the per diem rate for Santa Fe is $144/day and the mileage rate

is $0.505/mile.

During the interim between sessions, legislative members receive per diem at the same rates

listed above however, it should be noted that the internal revenue service per diem rates increases

slightly during the summer months and the mileage rate during the interim also fluctuates

slightly.

Senate Joint Resolution 2 – Page

3

SJR 2 proposes to amend the constitution to provide salaries for legislators in addition to the per-

diem and mileage currently received by legislators.

CTF/bb

Attachment

NCSL Backgrounder: Full- and Part-Time Legislatures

In the Blue states, average lawmakers spend the equivalent of half of a full-time job doing legislative work. The compensation they

receive for this work is quite low and requires them to have other sources of income in order to make a living. The blue states have

relatively small staffs. They are often called traditional or citizen legislatures and they are most often found in the smallest

population, more rural states. Again, NCSL has divided these states into two groups. The legislatures in Blue are the most traditional

or citizen legislatures. The legislatures in Blue Lite are slightly less traditional. States are listed alphabetically within subcategories.

Table 1 shows the breakdown of states by category. Table 2 shows the average scores for the Red, White and Blue states for time

on the job, compensation and staff size. For 2005 legislator compensation figures, go to

http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legismgt/aboutl05salary. htm.

Table 1. Red, White and Blue Legislatures

Red Red Light White Blue Light

Blue

California Alaska

Alabama Missouri Georgia Montana

Michigan Illinois

Arizona Nebraska Idaho

New

New York Florida

Arkansas North

Indiana Hampshire

Pennsylvania Ohio

Colorado Carolina Kansas North

Massachusetts Connecticut Oklahoma Maine

Dakota

New Jersey Delaware Oregon Mississippi South

Wisconsin Hawaii South

Nevada Dakota

Iowa

Carolina New Mexico Utah

Kentucky Tennessee Rhode Island Wyoming

Louisiana Texas

Vermont

Maryland Virginia West Virginia

Minnesota Washington

Source: NCSL 2004

Source: NCSL 2004

Table 2. Average Job

Time,

Compensation and Staff Size by

Category

of

Legislature

Category

of

Legislature

Time

on the Job

Compensation Staff per Member

(1)

(2)

(3)

Red

80%

$68,599

8.9

White

70%

$35,326

3.1

Blue

54%

$15,984

1.2

Notes:

1. Estimated proportion of a full-time job spent on legislative work including time in

session, constituent service, interim committee work, and election campaigns.

2. Estimated annual compensation of an average legislator including salary, per diem,

and any other unvouchered expense payments.

3. Ratio of total legislative staff to number of legislators.

Source: NCSL, 2004