Following the recent resignation of a state senator over pay, the Senate is considering a measure to increase state lawmaker’s salaries to levels in line with economic inflation.
Sen. Eva Burch, D-Mesa, resigned from the Legislature on March 14, and, in a March 5 news release, she cited legislator pay as a major contributing factor in her decision to leave the Senate.
“I know that I am not the first, nor will I be the last, good person to find themself a casualty of legislative pay,” Burch wrote. “I hope that the future will see Arizona lawmakers earning a living wage so that our constituents can be represented by working class citizens who understand the pressures of raising a family and struggling to make ends meet here in Arizona.”
It’s been nearly 30 years since voters last gave lawmakers a pay increase. In 1998, voters approved setting their salaries to $24,000. Adjusted for inflation, that $24,000 would be roughly $46,000 in 2025.
The measure passed out of committee with bipartisan and unanimous support. Sen. Brian Fernandez, D-Yuma, said the current salary is intended for a part-time, citizen Legislature, but lawmakers work many more hours than a part-time position both in and out of session.
“The real problem is who can run,” Fernandez said. “There are a lot of people who can’t do this … We don’t have a real citizen Legislature. We have a citizen Legislature that skews to a certain type of citizen.”
“I think it’s fair and reasonable, but we are not the ones doing this,” Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said during a Feb. 25 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing for the resolution.
The Commission on Salaries for Elective State Officers is supposed to meet biennially to recommend salaries for legislators, but Kavanagh said Arizona’s last three governors — Hobbs, Doug Ducey and Jan Brewer — haven’t appointed anyone to the commission. That means no recommendations for salary increases have been offered in recent years.
Former Democratic state Rep. Laura Terech told the Arizona Capitol Times that the legislative salary was one of the hardest parts about the job. Terech resigned from the Legislature after the 2024 session and was the most recent Democrat to resign from either chamber before Burch.
“I worked three jobs,” Terech said. “I worked for a nonprofit. I substitute taught on Friday, so it’s really difficult to make a living [as a lawmaker].”
One organization is opposing the measure. Dianne Post, the legislative liaison for the Arizona National Organization for Women, said lawmakers haven’t earned a raise among her organization’s members because of an abysmal history.
“People don’t trust them and therefore are not interested in paying them much more,” Post said in a written statement to the Arizona Capitol Times.
Post also noted that lawmakers receive compensation in per diem payments that are supposed to cover travel and living expenses associated with their duties.
Lawmakers residing within Maricopa County receive $35 per day for the first 120 days of regular and special sessions, including weekends, and $10 for any following days. Legislators who reside outside of Maricopa County make about $250 per day. Although the rate is determined by the U.S. General Services Administration. Members who live outside of Maricopa County make 50% of per diem payments during the first 120 days of session after the 120th day.
Lawmakers have previously attempted to increase their pay and the salaries of other elected officials in recent years. Fernandez sponsored a bill in 2024 that would have increased the salaries of elected officials including the governor, treasurer, attorney general and superintendent of public instruction to the six-figures range for each position.
Rep. Stacey Travers, D-Tempe, also introduced a resolution in 2024 that would have asked voters if lawmakers should have lifetime term limits. That resolution also proposed increasing legislative salaries to $35,000 annually and would be adjusted every two years based on changes in the consumer price index.
Another Democrat has proposed this year to set legislative salaries to be equal to the annual salary of a county supervisor. HB2347, sponsored by Rep. Chris Mathis, D-Tucson, didn’t get any committee hearings this year and that measure could only take effect with the passage of a ballot referral, but it would be a considerable pay increase for lawmakers.
Kevin DeMenna, the senior adviser at DeMenna Public Affairs, has been one of the most vocal advocates of increasing legislative pay. DeMenna has previously said it is “silly” that lawmakers are making $24,000 a year in the 21st century and that salary keeps qualified individuals from running for office.
“Is it really a citizen Legislature when almost all the citizens could never hold the office because of the economics of it?” Kavanagh said.
As a comparison, Maricopa County supervisors earned $76,000 in 2024 and will make $96,000 in 2025. Their salaries are determined by the Legislature.
The Senate is close to voting on SCR1003, which would adjust legislative salaries for inflation from the calendar year that the salary was approved. Senators gave preliminary approval to the measure on March 10, but it hasn’t yet received a vote on the Senate floor.
If the measure gets through the Senate and the House, voters would ultimately make the final decision on whether lawmakers deserve the increase on the 2026 general election ballot.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
