Voting to raise their own pay puts state lawmakers in a bind

Persistently low salaries discourage everyday citizens from serving in state legislatures, say legislators who face an uphill battle to raise pay.

“Could a single parent be a state rep? Absolutely not. If you are the sole wage earner in a family, you can’t afford it — or even if you’re the primary wage earner,” Louisiana state Rep. Joe Marino said in an interview with Stateline.

The salary for a Louisiana state lawmaker is $16,800 a year — unchanged since 1980. Marino, an ic xndependent, introduced a bill in March that would hike legislators’ salaries to $60,000 a year — $4,600 less than what $16,800 would be in today’s dollars.