Raise your hand if you recently got a raise in salary. No? Well our state lawmakers just gave themselves a raise but the Governor still needs to approve it.

Isn't this like our parents approving a weekly allowance? You remember those days when you had to plead your case and state the reasons why you should get a bump in pay to support your sugar fix.

So now it's up to Governor Dennis Daugaard to decide if South Dakota state legislators should get their first pay raise in two decades. This after the House voted 52-15 Wednesday to send a bill to the Republican governor that would tie their salaries to the state's median household income.

The measure would increase pay to more than $10,000, up from lawmakers' current salary of $6,000 per session plus a per diem allowance.

Tony Venhuizen, the governor's chief of staff, says Daugaard supports a legislative pay increase and would sign the bill as long as the necessary funds are included in the state budget.

The plan would set legislators' salaries at one-fifth of the South Dakota median household income starting next year. Lawmakers last voted to increase legislative pay in 1998.

Source: AP


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