Only four senators voted yes to amend the ASUI Rules and Regulations and reduce their own paychecks after substantial debate during Wednesday’s senate meeting.
The bill aimed to equalize pay between the appointed executive branch of ASUI and elected senators. The bill also provided additional compensation to senators at any point during their term.
“I am extremely disappointed in senate with their decision to not pass this bill. I think that we have an extreme equity issue in ASUI and it’s really unfair that our senators get paid up to $25 more than executive members,” ASUI President Samantha Perez said.
Max Cowan proposed the bill and Zack Goytowski sponsored it.
“What this bill would have done is reduced incoming senator pay for first terms from $100 to $80 and it would have also changed when you receive pay increases,” Cowan said. “The reason why is because senators do get paid more than many members of the executive branch who, in my opinion, do comparable work and put in comparable effort.”
Cowan said it is impossible for board chairs and directors to receive the same pay as second-term senators under the current ASUI Rules and Regulations, which he believes is wrong.
“I think there’s a big discrepancy currently in the pay between an entry level senator and an entry level director in ASUI even though the workload is pretty equal,” Goytowski said.
The rate of pay for all ASUI directors and board chairs must be approved in a bill by the senate with a recommendation from the ASUI president and chief of staff. The rate of pay for a senator is written into the ASUI Rules and Regulations, which must be amended to alter senate pay.
Board chairs and directors are eligible to receive $60 to $100 based on recommendations by the ASUI president and chief of staff.
Perez said she and Chief of Staff Sally Ames maintained the precedent set by previous ASUI executives and recommended that first-time board chairs and directors receive $75 per pay period while returning members receive $85. The senate approved these amounts for each new hire since fall 2011.
Cowan’s bill was submitted to the senate Rules and Regulations committee and was given a 0-4-0 “do not pass” recommendation to the senate.
Senators cited several reasons for opposition to the bill during a debate that lasted nearly half an hour. The biggest issue was the portion of the bill that would amend the rules and regulations to make senators eligible for pay raises at any point during their term rather than only upon re-election by the student body.
“I personally was not in favor of the bill when it was first presented to me. I didn’t feel that giving each other raises to be an incentive while senators were in term — I didn’t think it looked good trying to give each other raises if the bill were to pass,” said ASUI vice president, Juan Corona.
ASUI Presidential Policy Adviser Joe Black also spoke against the bill during the meeting. He said although he is in favor of equal pay, there is a difference between elected and appointed officials and therefore the process to receive a raise should not be the same for the positions.
“A board chair and a director — they’re employees, they can be hired or fired by the president, but an elected person is there for the reason that they were elected into office to represent the voices of their constituents,” Black said. “The only people who should have control over them getting any sort of raise is the public, and my opinion is that they do that by if they are reelected.”
Some senators said they would rather see an increase in pay for board chairs and directors than a reduction to senate pay.
ASUI Director of Advancement Nicole Shirk attended the meeting and said she didn’t see the bill as a reasonable solution.
“I think that it is a lot more logical to make everyone’s pay equal and reduce the amount that senators are making because it saves student money and allows us to use it on something else,” Shirk said. “I think that advocating that everyone should make more money isn’t the best use of student money.”
Perez said she would encourage the senate to re-evaluate its decision and re-submit a bill that only lowers senate pay and does not include amendments concerning raises for senators.
“Currently you’re only eligible for a pay increase upon re-election in subsequent terms,” Cowan said. “This bill would have made it possible to receive a pay increase at any point in your term of service so that it is possible to reward senators who are doing exemplary work not just to punish them for failing to do their jobs.”
Goytowski said while he is in favor of a pay reduction, he did not believe Cowan’s structure to incentivize students was the correct one.
“At the end of the day it comes down to compromise and you have to be willing to compromise to get legislation through,” Goytowski said. “I’m currently planning on working on legislation that would just purely cut the paychecks of senators and would keep the same structure for pay raises that currently exists. I believe that really we just need to reduce senator paychecks at this point.”
Cowen said he also plans to work with senators as he continues to address the issue.
“In what ways I’m not sure, whether that means continuing with a pay cut and changing the scheduling for increases in compensation — or it could mean increasing the pay cap for directors and board chairs to allow them to be compromised in similar ways to senators,” Cowan said.
Corona said he enjoyed the debate on the bill and thought it was a good way for senators to express their opinions.
“As you can see a lot of decisions were made and I think it’s a good way to show the students that we’re not always just going to vote yes,” Corona said. “I think this was a good bill to show that senate was divided in its stance but ultimately at the end we all came together.”
Compensation and pay structure will continue to be a topic of discussion for senators as they progress into the next academic year.
“I think it’s hard to get people to reduce their paychecks,” Goytowski said. “But at the end of the day, that’s what needs to happen.”
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at arg-news.uidaho.edu