Kansas legislators have figured out a way to boost their pay — through an independent body that would explore per diem and retirement benefits.
Reportedly, the nine-member, independent body would shield lawmakers from the appearance that they’re feathering their own nests, which do need some feathers. Legislative pay has stalled at $88.66 per day and an additional $157 per day for meals and lodging for about 20 years. Kansas lawmakers deserve a raise, but so do many of their constituents.
In fact, whenever lawmakers — state or federal — get a raise, we ought to also raise the minimum wage. Even though the legislative body exists in service of the public, wide swaths of the working-class public often do not have their interests sufficiently represented in our state bodies.
Merely suggesting an upward adjustment of the minimum wage, now standing at $7.25 an hour, elicits shrieks and howls from politicians who seem to empathize more with business owners over the needs of less-wealthy constituents.
To be fair, some caution is warranted.
Jeremy Hill, director of Wichita State’s Center for Economic Development, said any sudden or dramatic change to the minimum wage should be discouraged. Short term benefits to low-income earners could give way to inflationary pressures, Hill said. But he wasn’t categorically opposed to a minimum wage bump.
“Overall, the minimum wage is well below an inflation-adjusted level over time,” Hill said. “Increasing the minimum wage is...
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