Colorado House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst in the House chamber on opening day. (Brennan Linsley, The Associated Press)
Colorado House and Senate to increase lawmakers’ pay — and the salaries for other elected officials.
Itap an issue first raised at the start of the session, when Senate President Bill Cadman said he was open to the idea of pay hikes for lawmakers. But House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorstap sponsorship of the bill is more arresting.
In the first weeks of the session, Hullinghorst told reporters she opposed the idea in blunt terms, saying “itap the wrong statement for us to make.”
While she agreed that low pay deters a lot of people from public service, she said in January that legislators and other public servants need to wait their turn.
“I think that’s a mess,” the Boulder Democrat said of any legislative effort for a pay raise. “Quite frankly that’s a difficult subject, and I’m not interested in talking about that subject until all of the people of Colorado are earning enough money to get by. Just raising our salaries is not going to do that.”
She added later, “I think it’s the wrong statement for us to make yet. Maybe when we can find ways to raise the minimum wage and find ways to get more people to work who need to go to work, then I’m willing to look at it, but I’m not particularly interested in that, even discussing it.”
Most state employees will see a 2 percent salary hike in the state budget, but Democratic efforts to boost Colorado’s minimum wage died this session.
Asked about the contradiction, Hullinghorst said in a statement she still has the same concerns.
“But the bill that was brought to me very recently by the prime sponsors takes a much broader look at the issue,” she said. “Itap not only about state legislators. This bill also addresses the salaries of our statewide”‹”‹ officials as well as all our hard-working county commissioners, sheriffs and other county elected officials, at the recommendation of the bipartisan County Salary Advisory Commission.
“I think this broader discussion is one thatap worth having, and I look forward to hearing the arguments on both sides,” she concluded.
