2 Florida Lawmakers Call for Reform of State Legislature’s Salaries, Structure

Florida Capitol Building in Tallahassee, Fla. Patricia Tolson/The Epoch Times

Two Florida lawmakers are floating the idea of increasing state legislators’ salaries, claiming the workload has increased in recent years with Florida’s growing population.

The current annual pay rate for Florida’s legislators is $29,697, where it’s remained since 2010. Legislative salaries reached $31,932 in 2007, but these were reduced in 2008 and 2009 (pdf).

Florida Statute 11.13 shows the annual pay rate for members of Florida’s legislature was set at $18,000 on July 1, 1986, with annual adjustments based on the average percentage increase in the salaries of state career service employees for the fiscal year most recently concluded.

Republican state Rep. Spencer Roach said that in 1986, the average Florida legislator represented about 50,000 to 53,000 constituents.

Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in December showed that Florida’s population grew to 22.2 million in 2022, an increase of 1.9 percent from 2021, making it the fastest-growing state in the country.

Today, Roach said the average Florida legislator represents about 184,000 constituents.

Florida state Rep. Spencer Roach. Courtesy of Spencer Roach

“When you add 100,000 more constituents, the workload has dramatically increased,” Roach told The Epoch Times.

“I very much think that the discussion needs to take place for us to start seriously discussing some reforms to the way we do business in governing the state of Florida,” he said.

Democrat state Rep. Bruce Antone agrees.

“It’s time for a pay raise,” Antone told The Epoch Times, suggesting that the Office of Program Policy Analysis should conduct a study to compare lawmaker pay rates in states with similar populations to support his position. He also wants to compare legislator salaries to those of other elected officials, like county commissioners and school board members.

Comparing Populations and Salaries

Florida is the third most populous U.S. state, surpassed only by California and Texas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. New York ranks fourth.

Although the Florida Legislature is technically part-time, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) labels Florida as one of America’s 26 “hybrid” states with a “gray legislature.” Lawmakers in gray legislatures spend the equivalent of more than two-thirds of a full-time job being legislators, but the pay is “usually not enough to allow them to make a living without having other sources of income,” the NCSL says.

California legislators make $119,702 per year and New York legislators make $110,000. Both of these states have what are considered “green legislatures,” meaning they are “full-time, well paid” and have “a large staff,” the NCSL says.

Texas has a “gray legislature,” and its lawmakers earn only $7,200 annually.

Florida state Rep. Bruce Antone speaks at a gathering in Orlando, Fla., in 2019. Courtesy of Rep. Bruce Antone

To earn the annual $29,697, Florida’s Legislature meets in session every year for 60 consecutive days.

Data from the Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research (pdf) for fiscal year 2020–2021 shows that Florida County Commissioners are paid an average of $63,000 per year and school board members make an average of $36,000 per year.

According to a 2021 report by New American Leaders (pdf), almost 78 percent of Florida lawmakers have a second income. Nearly 7 percent of the remaining lawmakers have incomes supplemented by Social Security, retirement, or investment income. For the last 15 percent, the $29,697 legislator salary is their only source of income.

Special Sessions

Roach also noted that special legislative sessions cost Florida taxpayers additional money.

In 2021, Gov. Ron DeSantis called for two special sessions, one regarding COVID-19 mandates and another to discuss the Seminole Tribe gaming compact.

In 2022, there were three special sessions. The first was in April to discuss congressional redistricting. The other two, held in May and December, were related to solving the state’s property insurance reform crisis.

Generally, special sessions last four days. According to Roach, round-trip airfare from his district to Tallahassee runs at about $1,500. There’s also the average cost of $200 per night for a hotel room and the $152 per diem, Roach said.

“You do the math for one legislator and then multiply it by 160,” he said.

‘Not a Part-Time Job’

“We can no longer do the job the people have hired us to do in the time they’ve allocated for us to do it,” Roach insisted. “We cannot carry out the function of this state in 60 days, and we’re not doing it now. That’s not a part-time job.”

While the original intent in the state was to create a “citizens legislature,” Roach said, “the only people who can afford to do this” with the current salary rate “are the people who are independently wealthy, titans of industry, or retired.”

While he has no problems with these people becoming legislators, Roach said the low salary prevents “the average citizen” from “being heard in this process” because “they can’t afford to serve, even if they want to.”

It’s a sentiment shared by Antone.

“You’re either going to have retirees, big business owners, or attorneys who can afford to walk away from their business,” Antone posited. “You’re not going to have a ‘citizen legislature’ that’s diverse and includes people from all across the income spectrum. You’re not going to have the school teacher and small business owner up there. You’re just going to have folks who are wealthy or retired.”

Roach said he doesn’t have all the answers regarding a revised Florida Legislature, and he knows the idea of pay raises for politicians isn’t popular.

“But we need to start the discussion about reform,” he said. “Then the 120 members of the Florida House, 40 members of the Senate, and about 23 million citizens can have a say in what that might look like.”