Alabama Senate approves "monstrosity" that would tie legislators' pay to median income

MONTGOMERY, Al.
 The Alabama Senate this afternoon approved a junked-up "monstrosity" of a bill to tie legislators' pay to the median household income in Alabama.
Senators voted 28-6 for the proposed constitutional amendment after tacking on multiple add-ons including that a 2007 pay raise would be repealed immediately, lawmakers would forfeit pay in times of high unemployment, and legislators would have to reimburse the state if they accepted a controversial 2007 pay raise.
Senators in favor of the bill said they weren't even sure if all the changes were constitutional.
"What came out today was a monstrosity that we want to correct in conference committee," Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said.
"The House is not going to concur with this. I'm going to beg them not to concur with this. We are going to send it to conference and fix it in conference," Marsh said.
The original proposal would change the way lawmakers are paid, giving them a base salary equal to the state's median household income. Additionally, they would be paid a daily expense allowance and mileage, identical to what state employees get, to cover travel expenses to Montgomery.
Lawmakers currently earn a minimum of $53,388 each year. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the state's 2010 median household income at $40,474.
Under the new proposal, a lawmaker who lived 128 miles from Montgomery, for instance, would make about $45,980, according to an estimate from the Legislative Fiscal Office.
The proposed change is a constitutional amendment that would take effect immediately after the 2014 general election if voters approved it.
The bill comes after a much-criticized pay raise that lawmakers approved in 2007 without a recorded vote. The 61-percent pay raise included automatic cost-of-living adjustments.
But senators engaged in a type of political race of who could be more in favor of slashing legislative pay.
Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, accused Republicans of presenting a "Trojan Horse," noting the bill would not repeal the 2007 raise immediately and it would stay in place if voters voted down the proposed constitutional amendment
Bedford put on an amendment that lawmakers would forfeit their pay any time the state's unemployment rate crept above 5.2 percent, saying lawmakers should follow the governor's example.
Marsh said some of the opposition was a "show" and countered with an amendment of his own that lawmakers would have to give back any pay raise they took if they were in office when the 2007 raise was approved. Marsh said he didn't take the pay raise.
"I've withstood as much hypocrisy as I can for one day," Marsh said.