State lawmakers fear backlash from giving themselves a raise

Missouri legislators rejected an increase in January after sometimes heated debate, extending their streak without a pay raise to more than a decade.

Norton described struggling with her children's college costs and having to put down extra money on a mortgage because her employment was only guaranteed for two years.

Mary Liz Holberg, a Minnesota Republican who was chair of the state's powerful Ways and Means committee for two years, left the Legislature after the 2014 session and immediately ran for a higher-paid county commissioner position.

People often wrongly presume legislators make as much as members of Congress, who earn nearly $175,000 a year, said Zachary Baumann, a lecturer in political science at Penn State.

The reality is they make much less, especially for smaller, part-time legislatures such as Nevada, Kentucky and six other states where lawmakers get no salary at all but only a daily expense reimbursement.

Massachusetts lawmakers approved a raise by a wide margin in January, only to have Republican Gov. Charlie Baker veto it after citizens complained.