Minnesota Legislators Get a Pay Bump in July

ST. PAUL (WJON News) - Minnesota Legislators will see a pay increase this summer.

Last Friday, the Legislative Salary Council unanimously approved an increase in legislator pay of 7.25% or about $3,500 per year.

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In determining the increase, the council used the current pay scale of county commissioners,

salary and per diem rates of neighboring state legislatures,

and other benefits, like health insurance.

According to the Legislative Salary Council’s report, they used the following information to justify the pay increase:

• Inflation, as measured by CPI-U, increased by 7.04% in 2021 and 6.45% in 2022.
• State employee collective bargaining agreements provided 2.5% and 2.5% across the board increases effective July 1, 2021 and July 1, 2022, respectively.
• Social security benefits increased 5.9% and 8.7% effective December 2021 and December 2022.
• Private sector pay increased 5.0% and 5.1% effective December 2021 and December 2022.
• The five non-urban Metropolitan County (7 county Metro Area excluding Ramsey and Hennepin counties) commissioner salaries increased 3.5% since the Salary Council’s last determination.
• The Salary Council makes a single salary determination effective July of the oddnumbered year. Many of the salary comparisons that the Council considered consisted of two adjustments over a two-year period. The adjustment made by this Council explicitly takes into account this two-year period in order to keep Legislator salaries whole in real economic terms.
• MMB’s most recent budget forecast projects a general fund balance of $17.5 billion in FY 24-25, of which $12.5 billion is leftover from the previous biennium. The forecast references estimates of inflation for the next three years: 2.3% for FY 24, 2.2% for FY 25, and 2.1% for FY 26.

After a lengthy discussion about the increase in inflation and the total hours legislators put in during the session, the council approved an increase from $42,250 to $51,750 per year effective July 1st. The increased salaries mean an extra $810,000 per year in state spending.

To read the draft report, click here.

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