Last week saw the beginning of floor debate in the Missouri Senate.  The first few weeks were spent vetting bills in committees, taking testimony and making changes where needed. 

Legislature Rejects Pay Raise

Every two years, a salary commission set up by voters of Missouri decides whether or not to recommend pay raises for Missouri legislators, statewide elected official and judges.  The Missouri Citizen's Commission for Elected Official Salaries Amendment recommended what amounted to an 11 percent raise for legislators, and significant raises for statewide officials and judges.  The Legislature needed to vote to reject those raises by the last day of January.

I co-sponsored the Senate version of the concurrent resolution that rejected that raise, and voted to reject the raise when the House version (House Concurrent Resolution 4) came through the Senate.  Despite a threatened filibuster by two members of the minority (which would have effectively put the raises into effect,) a compromise was reached and the Legislature voted overwhelmingly for the rejection.

I voted to reject the raises for several reasons.  I don’t believe legislators should raise their own salaries, and I will not vote to change mine.  I knew what the salary was when I ran for office.   By giving us the option to reject the recommendation, voters essentially kept the issue in our hands.  Also, the state budget does not have room for such raises.  In fact, despite several small raises, state employees are still, on average, some of the lowest paid in the nation.  Until our budget can absorb raises for them, we should not be taking one ourselves.

I am very pleased the Legislature was able to reject this recommendation, and I hope further changes can be made to how raises are decided in the future.

State Bonding Bills

Two bills, Senate Concurrent Resolutions 8 and 9, laid out the Missouri Senate’s priorities for future bonding in two areas.  SCR 8 focused on higher education and maintenance of buildings.  SCR 9 focused on state owned buildings, including the State Capitol.

Last year, I voted against expanding the state’s debt by bonding an additional $600 million dollars.  I believe that the vast majority of these projects can be done with better financial management and thoughtful budgeting.  Despite my “no” vote, the Legislature approved the bonding.

I continue to believe that we can tackle most of these projects individually through the budget, and I voted “no” again on SCR 8 and SCR 9.  There are some important projects in those lists, even some (like fixing the water problem in the 100-year-old Capitol) which are critical.  If the list had been limited to only large projects, these may have been acceptable bills.  Instead, many small projects showed up on the list, making me wonder why we were not just dealing with them.

When the state goes into debt, the payments are constitutionally the first thing we have to make.  The first budget bill every year is the debt bill. By bonding these projects, even some that are very small, we are essentially saying they are more important than other issues, like education spending or highways.  I could not support that decision.  Again, despite my “no” vote, both bills passed and are headed to the House.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns at any time. We look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions, and trying to answer any questions you may have. You can reach us by phone at 573-751-1464, or e-mail at will.kraus@senate.mo.gov.