Lawmaker pay panel sticks with $45K; court fight ahead?
Updated at 2 p.m. with Dayton comment
The independent panel that delivered a big lawmaker pay raise that left some in the Minnesota Legislature scrambling is sticking with its decision in the face of resistance from a leading Republican.
The Legislative Salary Council finalized its report Friday that will boost legislator salaries to $45,000 per year in July. That's a 45 percent jump from the roughly $31,000 state lawmakers make now.
House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Zimmerman, moved Thursday to block the raise by withholding funding for it. The matter could wind up in court.
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Council Chair Tom Stinson said he'll leave the legal wrangling to others.
"Our job was to come up with a number, and we've done that," Stinson said. "Now the lawyers can take over."
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, has said he won't get in the way of the raise, which is the first lawmakers have had since 1999.
The council was established after voters approved a constitutional amendment in November. It removed the ability of legislators to decide their own base pay and said the new 16-member panel -- half Republicans and half Democrats kept at an arms-length distance from lawmakers -- would prescribe it.
The panel firmed up the pay figure last week but needed Friday's meeting to finalize the wording of its report. There was barely any discussion of Daudt's move the day before, only about a minute during an hour-long session.
Afterward, council member Joseph Boyle, an attorney from International Falls, Minn., said he believed the decision is clearly binding on the Legislature.
"There is no leeway anymore with the Legislature," Boyle said. "That is the responsibility that the citizens of the state gave us under the constitutional amendment."
A voter who supported the amendment or lawmaker denied a raise would need to file a lawsuit to challenge Daudt's decree that bars House budget officers from paying the higher salary.
Gov. Mark Dayton added his voice Friday, suggesting those trying to head off the raise were "playing politics" with the matter.
"I'm not a lawyer. I'm certainly not a constitutional scholar," Dayton said, adding, "I've said for a couple years that I support legislators getting a pay increase. And I think the commission, to its enormous credit, was acted very responsibly."