Legislators need to look at their benefits

By The Des Moines Register

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There's another issue that needs to be on the Iowa Legislature's “To do” list for 2012: cleaning up inequities in lawmakers' pay and benefits.

The Legislature needs to engage in comprehensive self-reform to provide for proper taxation of members' compensation, to provide fairness to the taxpayers and to ensure transparency.

House and Senate Republican leaders said recently that lawmakers should help pay the cost of their health insurance. “We think we should be contributing more to our monthly premium,” House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, told The Des Moines Register editorial board.

More? He and the majority of lawmakers don't contribute anything in monthly premiums for their insurance.

Lawmakers are offered free health insurance for their families. The Register could not find another state that provides such a generous health benefit to its part-time lawmakers.

While our elected officials talk about paying perhaps $100 a month for their insurance, some states require lawmakers to pay the entire cost of coverage. If our lawmakers - who typically are in session about four months a year - want to enroll in a state health insurance plan, fine. But why should Iowans pay as much as $18,000 per lawmaker, per year, for that coverage?

They shouldn't.

The idea of them paying toward their insurance premiums is one of a number of changes that need to be made this year in lawmakers' pay and benefits. Last year, a Register investigation found questionable compensation and benefits for our lawmakers.

In addition to salaries ranging from $25,000 for rank-and-file members to $37,500 for key leaders, lawmakers receive a “per diem” of $100 or $134 per day during the session, depending on where they live. This is supposed to cover their expenses, although they don't have to document any expenses to receive the money, which can add up to $13,400 in a 100-day session.

The money is not subject to income tax the way salary is, yet because of a quirk enacted by the Legislature, it counts as income to inflate their state retirement pensions. They also receive a $300 per month for 12 months as a “constituent allowance.” They are not required to account for how that money is spent either.

Then there are the benefits.

As of September, 133 of 150 lawmakers were signed up for state health insurance. Of those, 83 chose a plan with no monthly premium. That coverage is much more generous (lower co-payments and deductibles) than average Iowans working in the private sector have. In addition, taxpayers pick up much of the cost for dental, life and disability insurance.

After all that, when state lawmakers leave office they are eligible for a state pension. Unlike the vast majority of former state workers, they have the option of paying the full cost to enroll in their state health insurance plans for the rest of their lives. That means they don't have to find insurance on their own or risk being denied coverage by a private insurer because they or family members have a pre-existing health problem - a problem many Iowans encounter when they leave a job or are fired.

Rather than kicking in a few dollars to cover their health insurance, lawmakers should draft legislation to overhaul their entire compensation.

Pay should be taxed. If lawmakers want to be compensated for specific expenses, they should be required to turn in receipts and documentation the way other state employee do.

While our elected officials talk this year about ways to rein in government spending and make the best use of tax money, they should start by looking in the mirror.