Citizens' Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials

For most of Missouri's history, salaries for legislators, judges and statewide elected officials were set by statute but legislators have had difficulty increasing that compensation and many legislators have found it popular to oppose them. Since 1975, the General Assembly increased the per diem allowance paid to legislators twice (1977, 1999) and salaries for legislators once (enacted in 1980). Statewide elected officials received salary increases in 1977 and 1984 while judges received raises five times since 1975. The most significant change in compensation occurred in 1982 and 1984 when the General Assembly authorized cost-of-living increases for judges and legislators/statewide elected offices, respectively. The procedure for calculating the cost-of-living increases was established in Section 474.405, Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo) for judges and in 105.005, RSMo for all others. These increases had to be appropriated in a specific line in the appropriations bill and the amount of the annual increase was published in appendix d for the judiciary and appendix e for other elected officials of the Missouri Revised Statutes.