Those elected to Colorado’s legislative seats and statewide offices in November can expect to get larger paychecks than elected officials get today.
A set of pay increases resulting from a law passed in 2024 will automatically go into effect Jan. 1 unless the legislature makes changes this year. That measure, House Bill 1059, created an independent commission to examine and set salaries for elected officials.
The cost to the budget for the first full year is estimated to be $400,000, according to nonpartisan staff.
This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
The commission’s December report said the salaries in Colorado are inadequate “considering the significance of the work performed,” and statewide officers are paid 14% to 35% below the median salaries of their counterparts in other states. The commission looked at data from the National Conference of State Legislatures and adjusted for Colorado’s cost of labor.
The commission recommended increasing the salaries for most statewide offices to the 25th percentile of peer states, “given the budgetary constraints the State of Colorado is experiencing. The 25th percentile is considered a competitive rate,” the report said.
The recommendations call for the next attorney general to get a whopping 45% increase to $170,000 a year. The state treasurer would get 28% more, the secretary of state is owed a 26% increase and the governor 11%.
State lawmakers are in line for the smallest bump at 6%. That would bring legislators up to the median salary of peer states, nearly $51,000 a year, not including a daily session per diem that lawmakers can claim. That adds another $33,000 for lawmakers from outside the Denver area, and $9,000 for Denver-area lawmakers. The per diems are tied to the federal per diem rates: 90% of the federal rate for non-metro members and 25% for metro members.
Rep. Naquetta Ricks, an Aurora Democrat, was the main sponsor of the pay commission study and said the salary for lawmakers is currently structured for people of means and wealth who have the ability to spend four months at the Capitol. She said she never had a set salary in mind, but wants to pave the way for more people from all walks of life to feel like they can afford to run for elected office.
“I think people should get paid what they work for,” she said.
However, Ricks was under the incorrect impression that lawmakers had to approve the commission’s recommendations.
Instead, according to non-partisan legislative staff, the salary increases don’t require a bill and will go into effect automatically.
The pay raises are set to kick in during a difficult fiscal year. Colorado lawmakers spent much of this legislative session slashing public services in order to close a $1.5 billion shortfall in the upcoming budget, which starts July 1.
“We are cutting everywhere, so it does feel a little tone deaf,” said Kelly Mayr, a parent caregiver of a permanently disabled young adult from Highlands Ranch. “How we spend our money tells people what we value.”
Medicaid growth is one cause of the budget shortfall, driven by higher costs, expanded programs and patients using services more frequently. While the budget isn’t final, lawmakers are proposing some cuts to services for people with disabilities and their caregivers. Medicaid providers will get a 2% across the board cut. State workers will not receive the 3.5% cost of living increase they were slated to get.
Under the Colorado Constitution, lawmakers cannot vote to change their own pay, up or down, in the middle of their term. That’s why the latest pay raise was set in motion two years ago and passed by a different legislature, although some current lawmakers did approve it.
Yet, even without Ricks’ 2024 bill or the pay commission report, lawmakers would still get a pay bump. In 2017, the legislature passed a bipartisan law indexing future legislative salaries to inflation and adjusting every two years starting in 2025. As a result, state economists project the salaries for lawmakers would be about $50,000 next year, regardless.
Legislative salaries can differ depending on per diem claims. Each member is entitled to claim all 120 days of the session, and a per diem in the interim for committee hearings. Legislative leaders, including the House speaker, Senate president, and the majority and minority leaders, can also receive a leadership per diem during the interim. That amount for legislative leaders will increase from $99 a day to $193 per day in 2027.
“They can get per diem for any day that they work in the capacity of their leadership position when the legislature is not in session,” said Natalie Castle, the director for the non-partisan Legislative Council Staff.
Metro lawmakers also receive daily travel reimbursements to the Capitol, and out-of-metro members receive reimbursement for one round-trip to the Capitol per week.
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, with support from news outlets throughout the state. Startup funding for the Alliance was provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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