There is a conservative legislative priority item that certainly needs attention but is unlikely to be dealt with by legislators for the very reason that it doesn’t have the attention of voters and lawmakers have no incentive to make changes.
I’m referring to pensions provided to Texas legislators.
Texas legislators often talk about their extraordinarily low salary – just $600 per month. And though they also receive more than $25,000 in additional per diem allowances, their real hidden prize is the legislative pension.
Based on the salary of a state district judge – currently set at $140,000 – lawmakers are allowed to vest in a pension after eight years in office. A tenure of 12 years in office allows the lawmaker to begin receiving payments at the ripe old age of 50.
The longer the lawmaker serves in office, the more of a district judge’s salary they get.
How many of them bother to explain to you, when talking about being part-time lawmakers with a paltry, almost non-existent salary, the facts of their rather lavish taxpayer provided pension should they notch just three re-election victories?
“The first step in reforming legislative pensions is to decouple the pension amount from district judge salaries. Lawmakers should not be allowed to increase their own pensions by hiding behind the need for a judicial pay raise,” Empower Texans suggests.
Ultimately, the group argues, “legislative pensions should be abolished” as the system provides a big financial incentive for legislators to stay in office longer than is best.
Possibly it is good policy to pay lawmakers a pension due to the sacrifices some make to serve. However, at minimum, such should be a stand-alone program not hidden behind judicial salaries. Lawmakers should have to go on record setting their own pensions.
Texas legislators get low salary but BIG pensions
Robert Pratt
There is a conservative legislative priority item that certainly needs attention but is unlikely to be dealt with by legislators for the very reason that it doesn’t have the attention of voters and lawmakers have no incentive to make changes.
I’m referring to pensions provided to Texas legislators.
For the Texas Scorecard, Tony McDonald wrote:
Texas legislators often talk about their extraordinarily low salary – just $600 per month. And though they also receive more than $25,000 in additional per diem allowances, their real hidden prize is the legislative pension.
Based on the salary of a state district judge – currently set at $140,000 – lawmakers are allowed to vest in a pension after eight years in office. A tenure of 12 years in office allows the lawmaker to begin receiving payments at the ripe old age of 50.
The longer the lawmaker serves in office, the more of a district judge’s salary they get.
How many of them bother to explain to you, when talking about being part-time lawmakers with a paltry, almost non-existent salary, the facts of their rather lavish taxpayer provided pension should they notch just three re-election victories?
“The first step in reforming legislative pensions is to decouple the pension amount from district judge salaries. Lawmakers should not be allowed to increase their own pensions by hiding behind the need for a judicial pay raise,” Empower Texans suggests.
Ultimately, the group argues, “legislative pensions should be abolished” as the system provides a big financial incentive for legislators to stay in office longer than is best.
Possibly it is good policy to pay lawmakers a pension due to the sacrifices some make to serve. However, at minimum, such should be a stand-alone program not hidden behind judicial salaries. Lawmakers should have to go on record setting their own pensions.