(The Center Square) – Iowa legislators and statewide elected officials may get a $10,000-a-year pay raise.
The House of Representatives approved House Bill 2700 Thursday, which also gives legislators and statewide elected officials a cost of living increase annually beginning in 2026.
The bill bumps lawmaker’s pay from $25,000 annually to $35,000. The House Speaker, the presiding officer of the Senate and the House and Senate majority and minority floor leaders would earn $47,000 a year, up from $37,000. The president pro tem of the Senate and House speaker pro tem would get a $10,000 raise to $37,000 a year. The pay raises begin in 2025, according to the bill.
Gov. Kim Reynolds’ salary would increase to $140,000 annually. Other state office holders would see a $10,000 increase beginning in 2025 and cost of living raises in subsequent years.
A subcommittee first heard the bill Tuesday and it quickly made its way through committee to the House floor in two days.
The last time lawmakers voted themselves a pay raise was in 2005, according to Rep. Joel Fry, R-Osceola, who introduced the bill. It took effect in 2007.
“It’s my belief we want to continue to maintain this bright future that Iowa has with the brightest leaders that we can find,” Fry said. “This is a key piece of how we attract and we retain some of those bright leaders in the state of Iowa.”
No one spoke against the bill. Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, encouraged colleagues to vote for the bill.
A fiscal note was not included in the bill.
Thirty-eight members voted against the bill while 58 voted ‘yes.’ Four legislators were not present or did not vote.
The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
The House also approved a measure that would require the Legislative Council to meet after the session is over to consider pay raises for legislative staff. The resolution passed with a unanimous vote.
