Dorothy Sue Hill Votes against Pay Raise to Legislatures!
In the first session of the new administration a Bill was proposed in the senate S.B. 672 to increase the pay of Legislators from $16,800.00 a year to $37,500.00 a year. State Representative Dorothy Sue Hill of District 32 fought against and voted against the pay raise.
I have opposed this pay raise from the very beginning. A doubling of legislative pay that takes effect prior to the next election is clearly a bad policy. This bill would also have set up a system to give legislators automatic pay raises in the future without additional legislative votes, which provides an unacceptable level of accountability. After the Bill passed proposed setting up a trust wherein the extra pay raise she would receive would be spent on her constituents in District 32. Hill stated; "when proposed with the option of letting the extra money go back into the general fund or placing the money in a trust to be used in my district for the people I represent, the choice was easy. I and several others in the legislature decided to use the extra pay raise money for folks we represent through a trust that would hold the pay raise." Hill stated; that if you declined to take the pay raise the money would go back in the general fund of the state to be spent on projects in other areas of the state." My constituents' back home could use that extra money as every little bit helps, Hill said.
Hill was one of the first legislators to contact newly elected Governor Bobby Jindal in a phone conversation on June 26th with his chief of staff member Nail Patel to express that she supported the Governor vetoing the pay raise. Hill's support of the veto was memorialized in a letter dated June 27th to Governor Jindal as well. Hill stated that she was pleased to see that the Governor did veto the pay raise on June 30th. Governor Jindal's staff thanked Hill for her support of the veto and her commitment to move Louisiana forward.
Rep. Hill will be focusing on working with area lawmakers and Gov. Jindal to achieve the best results for her constituents. She wants the best thing for her people and her district; She thinks working with the Governor is the best way to get these things.
© 2007 Dorothy Sue Hill All Rights Reserved.
Paid for by the Dorothy Sue Hill Campaign.