TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A Florida Senate panel is rejecting a proposal to raise the salaries of state legislators.
Bill sponsor Sen. Arthenia Joyner said she wanted a pay raise for legislators in order to attract more working class people to the Florida Legislature. The bill proposed raising pay for rank-and-file legislators from just under $30,000 to $50,000 a year. The bill called for salaries to be adjusted every time state workers get a pay raise.
But the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee voted against Joyner's bill by a 3-1 margin. The only yes vote was Sen. Dwight Bullard, a Miami Democrat.
Senators voting no said they either did not see a need for a pay raise or said that members of the public would not approve of it.
Legislative salaries have been frozen since 2009 during the height of the Great Recession.
