RSS Feed
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
All 4 local legislators vote to override payraise veto All four local legislators voted Tuesday to override Gov. Riley's veto of a 62 percent pay raise for legislators that raised the pay nearly $19,000 to nearly $50,000. Gov. Riley said in vetoing the bill that the raise was too much. Rep. Marc Keahey, D-Grove Hill, and Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, voted for the raise in the House. In the Senate, Sen. Pat Lindsey, D-Butler, and Sen. Hank Sanders, DSelma, also voted for the raise. It was an easy override in the House with a 57- 41 vote. The Senate was a bit closer, 20-15. The raise will increase the compensation for what is considered a part-time job from $30,710 to $49,500 or so a year. That is total compensation because the pay includes a modest salary with most of it labeled for expenses. This is the first increase since 1991 and legislators supporting the hike were quick to point out that expenses have gone up greatly since then and that teachers and other state employees have received raises since then. But opponents to the bill say it isn't right to increase the pay so dramatically when there are so many Alabamians struggling to make a living. Others say the Alabama Legislature is one of the worse in the nation and doesn't deserve such a large paycheck. Tuesday's override required a roll call vote that detailed how each legislator voted.
Two weeks ago the raise was rushed through on a surprise voice vote that did not record individual legislators' votes. The procedure was criticized for its unexpectedness and for the unrecorded vote.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
