Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Legislative Compensation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
JLARC recommends raising legislative pay after survey finds session workload comparable to full‑time work
Summary
JLARC staff reported legislators’ median session workload at about 60 hours per week and recommended raising salaries—options include pegging pay to an external benchmark or indexing to inflation—while noting the political sensitivity of self‑set pay.
JLARC presented findings from a survey of legislators and staff that concluded Virginia’s legislative workload is substantially higher than commonly perceived and recommended updating compensation mechanisms.
Justin Brown, JLARC staff, said the survey (120 responses of ~140 legislators) found a median of about 60 hours per week during session and a median of about 30 hours per week during the interim. "When you annualize that, it's basically 13% fewer hours than a traditional full time job and 19% more hours than the upper end of part time," Brown summarized.
JLARC compared Virginia with other "hybrid" legislatures and found Virginia’s base legislative salary lagged peers; staff recommended raising pay and recommended consideration of an external benchmark or an independent commission to set pay to avoid ad hoc, legislator‑driven increases.
Staff presented multiple options: raise salaries toward the median of other hybrid legislatures, index pay to inflation, or establish a statutory external benchmark with limited override authority by the General Assembly. The report also noted that some allowances (for district office costs, intermeeting compensation) have not kept pace with costs and suggested statutory adjustments.
The commission did not act on a pay change during the session; JLARC recommended statute or appropriation language that would create a more transparent, systematic approach to adjustments.
