‘Isn’t the time’: Lawmakers reject 13-29% raises for Nebraska state officials

LINCOLN — Nebraska lawmakers voted against proposed salary increases for the state’s top constitutional officers Tuesday, with most of those officials coming out against the proposal.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, one of the people who would get a raise under the bill, threatened to veto any such raises if sent to his desk. He is up for reelection this year.

The proposed raises, ranging from 13.33% to 29.41%, were part of an amendment to Legislative Bill 1210 offered by State Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood, chair of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee. 

The amendment failed Tuesday 21-18. It needed at least 25 votes to pass, and 30 to overcome a veto. The change would have taken effect Jan. 1, 2027, the start of the next term for officials. Salaries can’t be changed during the middle of terms in office.

Clements said he calculated the raises for the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor of public accounts and state treasurer as 1.3% over the past 20 years, compared to 2.38% for inflation. The last salary raises for that group took effect in 2007, overcoming a veto from then-Gov. Dave Heineman.

The five Public Service Commission members would have received slightly smaller increases under Clements’ LB 1210.

“Nobody asked me for an amount that they would like to have for pay,” Clements said. “These are my numbers.”

Proposed raises

The proposal from Clements would have affected the following salaries:

• Governor, from $105,000 to $130,000 (23.8%).
• Lieutenant governor, from $75,000 to $95,000 (26.67%).
• Attorney general, from $95,000 to $120,000 (26.32%).
• Secretary of state, from $85,000 to $110,000 (29.41%).
• Auditor of public accounts, from $85,000 to $110,000 (29.41%).
• State treasurer, from $85,000 to $110,000 (29.41%).
• Public Service Commission, from $75,000 to $85,000 each (13.33%).

The increases would annually cost the state an extra $195,000. If the raises became law, that would be $97,500 for the remainder of this budget cycle and nearly $400,000 in the next two-year cycle. There would be some additional costs to cover increases for retirement and Social Security for the officials.

‘Current-day salaries’

State Sens. Rob Dover of Norfolk and Mike Jacobson of North Platte said the Legislature shouldn’t leave behind the state’s top officers while supporting general state employee salaries.

“These people do deserve a wage that somewhat reflects current-day salaries,” Dover said.

Said Jacobson: “It’s important that we pay our people appropriately, and going without raises or going with a small increase that is less than the rate of inflation doesn’t work elsewhere. It shouldn’t work here.”

In early February, the Legislature capped voter-mandated cost-of-living adjustments to the state’s minimum wage at 1.75% each year, rather than tying it to inflation, as voters approved in 2022.

State Sen. Bob Andersen of Sarpy County, vice chair of the Government Committee, said that as a fiscal conservative, he doesn’t want to add more to the state budget. But he said pay rates to those who amount as the state’s senior executives also need to be commensurate with their duties.

‘Just isn’t the time’

Multiple senators spoke against the proposal, citing the state’s current budget deficit of $646 million. Many senators said they supported the concept but not now.

“We lean heavily on the term ‘servant,’ and sometimes we do not pay fairly in the service that is being provided by the public servant,” Speaker John Arch of La Vista said of state employees.

“I’m not saying it’s not fair, that they don’t deserve it, but this just isn’t the time,” said State Sen. Mike Moser of Columbus, Pillen’s hometown.

Committee advances bill with 57% salary hikes for Nebraska constitutional officers, except governor

Arch described his opposition as “purely because of timing” during the state’s “budget crisis.” Moser said it would be “incredibly shortsighted” to correct a 20-year problem while the budget is “under such stress.”

State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, chair of the Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee, suggested delaying the increases to 2031, thus delaying the fight from the current election cycle.

Clements said the proposal dealt with whoever holds the office next year, not necessarily the current officeholders, who are all Republicans.

All constitutional officers are seeking reelection in a Republican-led state where the incumbents have greater chances at reelection. The Legislature also has a supermajority of Republicans.

‘The same sacrifices’

In a joint statement, Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly (who presided over the LB 1210 debate), Secretary of State Bob Evnen and State Treasurer Joey Spellerberg opposed salary raises. Another Clements amendment would have given the officials a 40% raise. Each said they had asked that their offices be excluded from the bill, describing it as “necessary to maintain public trust.”

“Our primary mission is to protect the taxpayer and ensure that the essential services Nebraskans rely on are delivered as efficiently as possible,” the officers said. “To that end, we must be willing to make the same sacrifices being asked of our fellow public servants.”

Evnen, in a separate statement Monday, said the state had “far more pressing fiscal problems” that needed to be addressed first.

“We’re trying to close a $600 million budget gap, and we have 700,000 acres of burned-out pasture and cropland,” he said. “This is not the time for the state to be giving raises to its constitutional officers.”

Laura Strimple, a spokesperson for Pillen, said he did not support a pay increase for himself or other elected constitutional officials while budget-balancing work continues.

“Governor Pillen will veto any bill proposing such an increase, if it gets to his desk,” she said.

Attorney General Mike Hilgers, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.

A spokesperson for the Public Service Commission said the commissioners declined to comment and wanted to allow the legislative process to play out.

The auditor factor

Foley, in a statement to the Examiner, said LB 1210 recognizes that, absent legislative action, the salaries could not be raised until 2031, making it 24 years with no raises by that point. 

He was the lone testifier to support a bill last year for the raises and the only one to bring them up before the Appropriations Committee this year.

“Whatever salary revision the Legislature decides is appropriate will be fine with me,” he said.

State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, who stepped up to oppose 57% proposed salary hikes in LB 345, which advanced last year from the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, again spoke against the proposal. She said it wasn’t right for Clements to sidestep the Government bill with his own Appropriations version.

“I understand, as time is constrained, people are working hard and thinking creatively to try and move forward critical issues,” Conrad said.

As she did before, Conrad proposed limiting the increases to Auditor Mike Foley, who is now in his 12th year and is running unopposed for a fourth nonconsecutive term. She also said she understood the need to look beyond the current officeholder, an argument previously advanced by long-time former State Sen. Ernie Chambers of North Omaha on similar previous proposals.

Conrad noted Foley is among the best auditors, if not the best in state history. Her Foley-only amendment, which would give Foley a higher 41.18% raise, failed 6-27.

“I think it is particularly wrong from a fiscal and policy and job performance perspective to reward these state leaders with a significant pay raise at this time,” Conrad said of the other officials.

A path forward?

State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha said she supported the increases, but if the path forward was only for the auditor, she would support that, too. In that case, Cavanaugh urged the body to consider Public Service Commission salaries, because the catch-all regulators are constitutionally prohibited from holding another job. 

Clements said he was unaware of that prohibition and said he was open to discussing an increase.

“When there’s a will, there’s a way, and paying people what they’re worth is important,” Cavanaugh said of salary increases.

State Sen. Wendy DeBoer, who is running as a Democrat for an open Public Service Commission seat in Omaha, in a Democratic-leaning district, said she was “conflicted out” on the proposal but would still vote against the bill. She said the bill didn’t make sense “on any level, in any way,” given the budget.

“It does not make sense to me that at that same time, we should also give a raise to those who are the rough equivalent of our executives,” DeBoer said.

The rest of LB 1210, introduced as a “shell” bill that would make little change to state law, advanced 34-4. Clements and Cavanaugh asked that the bill survive to give a chance at a “compromise,” to which Clements said he is open to ideas.

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