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An Indiana House committee will take up legislation next week that would significantly increase the base pay for Indiana’s 150 legislators.
Rep. Chet Dobis (D-Merrillville) said Thursday he wanted the issue considered through the normal legislative process and predicted there would be enough votes from both parties to get it through the House this session.
Under one proposal, base pay for legislators would rise from $11,600 to $19,000–or 20 percent of the governor’s annual salary–beginning in January 2002. That would amount to a 64 percent increase.
Lawmakers have tried several times in recent years to raise their salaries, only to have those efforts fail because of partisan clashes or fear of a public backlash.
