LAWMAKERS WANT TO SCRAP PAY COMMISSION

Four area lawmakers want to scrap Missouri's pay commission.

The four Republican legislators said voters should be asked to abolish the pay commission.

State Sen. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau, and Reps. David Schwab of Jackson, Patrick Naeger of Perryville and Mary Kasten of Cape Girardeau voiced their views in the wake of Gov. Mel Carnahan's Tuesday to veto pay raises.

Carnahan vetoed pay raises for himself and the other five statewide officeholders, lawmakers and judges.

"It is all part of the residue of this ridiculous salary commission," Kinder said. "This should never have been put in our constitution and it ought to be repealed."

Kinder said salaries issues should be left to the Legislature and not put in the hands of a state commission.

Voters approved a constitutional amendment in November 1994 that established the pay commission.

The Missouri Citizens' Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials is required to review salaries for statewide officers, legislators and trial judges.

The commission submits a pay plan to the Legislature every two years.

The pay plan is automatically adopted unless the House and Senate both approve the same measure rejecting it.

The Missouri House and Senate earlier this year failed to reach agreement on legislation to reject the commission's latest pay plan.

The plan would have raised salaries for Missouri judges and Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson.

Lawmakers and the other statewide officials would have received raises in the form of cost-of-living increases.

The Legislature ended up passing spending bills that included 5 percent pay raises for the elected officials, lawmakers and judges.

But Carnahan vetoed the pay raises, citing a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that raised questions about the legality of the raises.

Budget Director Mark Ward said the Supreme Court ruled that the Legislature has three choices when it comes to the commission's pay plan.

It can reject it, adopt it in full or adopt it in part by prorating the salary schedule, Ward said.

In addition, cost of living increases have to be awarded uniformly. Lawmakers can't give themselves a cost-of-living increase while denying the same hike for judges, for example.

The Legislature adjourned before the court's ruling so there was no way for lawmakers to change the budget, Ward said.

"There was no way to reconcile appropriations with that ruling," he said.

Schwab said there wouldn't have been a court ruling if the state had never set up a pay commission in the first place.

The pay commission provided a way for lawmakers to get automatic pay raises, said Schwab.

He said lawmakers don't deserve hefty pay raises. He said lawmakers should vote on salary matters, not hide behind a pay commission.

Schwab said both Republican and Democratic lawmakers might push to repeal the pay commission next year.

Sen. Wayne Goode, D-Normandy, chairs the Senate Budget Committee.

He called Tuesday for the repeal of the commission system.

"Putting this process in the Constitution has proved to be far too rigid and lacks the flexibility to deal with fiscal as well as political realities," he said.

Naeger said the pay commission system is "hugely flawed."

Kasten initially liked the idea of a pay commission, but the recommendations from the pay commission have been unreasonable, she said.

"Any time they have come up with something, it has been extreme," said Kasten. "I guess the thing to do would be to abolish it."