Kansas legislators’ scheduled 4.4% pay adjustment remains in place after the Legislative Coordinating Council deadlocked 3-3 Friday on a proposal to limit it to 1%. The result leaves open a broader question raised at the meeting: how the formula-based adjustment relates to the council’s budget work and what authority, if any, the council has to change lawmakers’ compensation.
The proposal, put forward by Senate Vice President Tim Shallenburger, would have removed budget funding for the portion of the adjustment above 1% and asked the House and Senate to consider legislation reducing the January increases. The 2027 Legislature would have made the final decision, the Kansas Reflector reported. Shallenburger, Senate Majority Leader Chase Blasi and House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard voted for the proposal; House Speaker Dan Hawkins, Blake Carpenter and Chris Croft voted against it. Senate President Ty Masterson and Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes were absent, according to the Lawrence Times.
A budget record, not a ruling on authority
Proposed minutes from the council’s July 7, 2025, meeting document a budget role: they say its FY 2026 budget instructions used preliminary 2024 data for a 4.4% salary adjustment, which would bring base legislative compensation to $44,892 a year. The proposed minutes record that budget calculation; they do not establish whether the council can revise compensation.
The authority question was disputed at Friday’s meeting. Carpenter raised concerns about the proposal’s legality, and Gordon Self, who leads the Office of the Revisor of Statutes, said he doubted the council had authority to change legislative compensation, the Kansas Reflector reported. Those are reported views, not a legal determination; the available council minutes do not resolve the issue.
How the adjustment system developed
The annual adjustment comes from a 2023 law establishing a Legislative Compensation Committee and tying changes to a rolling three-year average of Kansas personal income. The committee also recommended large base-salary increases that year. The 2024 Legislature could have rejected the compensation plan but did not act, so it took effect, the Reflector reported.
A separate historical point appears in a draft report from the Kansas Legislative Research Department: it said legislative compensation had last been adjusted in fiscal 2009 and had not kept pace with inflation. That observation provides context for the compensation system’s development, but does not determine whether this year’s scheduled adjustment should stand. The report is available through the Kansas Legislative Research Department.
Legislators and state employees have different pay processes
The council dispute followed an April budget fight in which lawmakers overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto and approved a 1% increase for roughly 35,000 executive-branch employees. Their raises are set through appropriations considered by the Legislature and governor; legislators’ adjustment is tied to the separate formula. Shallenburger’s proposal sought to make the two increases equal for this cycle, but the council’s tie left the scheduled legislative adjustment unchanged, the Kansas Reflector reported.
