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DENVER \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Colorado lawmakers on Wednesday sent a bill to the governor that would raise salaries for themselves and other elected officials.<\/p>\n
The pay bump would be the first increase since 1999, as previous legislative attempts to raise salaries failed.<\/p>\n
Senate Bill 288 was introduced and sent through the Legislature very quickly, having been introduced late, on April 30.<\/p>\n
It received a vote in the House of 33-30, with Rep. J. Paul Brown, R-Ignacio, voting against the raise, and Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, supporting it.<\/p>\n
The Senate backed the bill by a vote of 21-14, with Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, supporting the measure.<\/p>\n
The new salaries would not kick in until 2019, meaning many lawmakers voting for the bill would not be serving at the time. Gov. John Hickenloopeer also would be term-limited by then.<\/p>\n
The price tag of the bill is $1.3 million. It would increase pay for executive elected officers, lawmakers and other local officials.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers, the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer would receive salaries based on a percentage of certain judicial salaries, such as the chief justice of the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Based on current budget figures and judicial salaries, the governor would receive a 30 percent pay hike, from $90,000 a year to about $117,000 a year; attorney general would get about $102,000 instead of $80,000; and other constitutional officers would receive about $88,000 compared with $68,500.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers would see pay raises of almost 27 percent, from $30,000 a year to about $38,000 a year. County officials would receive raises based on the size of a county and other formulas.<\/p>\n
Those numbers could jump to increases as high as 42 percent if judicial salaries spike and inflation increases by at least 2.3 percent.<\/p>\n