Schapiro: Lawmakers quietly move to raise their own pay

When they weren't authorizing police patrols of a woman's uterus, all-you-can-grab sales of pistols, the Donald Trump treatment for public school teachers, and telling Virginians their votes don't count if they can't produce an official ID, the Boys and Girls of Winter were doing what they do best: loving on themselves.

On, appropriately, Valentine's Day, the 100 members of the House — that's 67 Republicans, 32 Democrats and one independent — unanimously and without a peep endorsed a pay raise for Virginia's part-time legislators in 2016. The proposal is now in the state Senate, where some members may be crying they're laughing so hard.

The headline-grabbing fights over mandatory ultrasounds for women having abortions, the rollback of one-handgun-a-month; making it easier to fire teachers and the voter-ID requirement Democrats say will keep blacks and other minorities from the polls are the legislative equivalent of a Grucci fireworks show: a noisy and eye-popping distraction from the important — at times, grubby — business of politics.

The proposed pay increase, by Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Caroline, slipped through the House virtually unnoticed. House Bill 1228 was tweaked by an Appropriations subcommittee to bring it line with the state constitution's prohibition on delegates and senators increasing their salaries during their terms.

The revision puts off a fatter pay day until Feb. 1, 2016. That way, delegates, who serve two-year terms, will have been through two elections; senators, elected for four years, through one. The General Assembly that convenes January 2016, therefore, would feed on the fruits of the budget approved the previous year.

That may not be enough to satisfy legal concerns. And it could be the least of the bill's problems. Orrock's measure reduces transparency on General Assembly salaries, but potentially increases political risks for members. It would spare them one of the scarier aspects of their jobs: publicly voting to raise their own wages — something last done in 1988, when legislative salaries rose to $18,000.

Instead, General Assembly compensation would be linked to that of state employees, who haven't had a raise since 2007: When bureaucrats are paid more, so would legislators. When civil-service workers contribute more to their pensions; ditto, lawmakers. If health insurance is cut for the government rank-and-file; so, too, for the General Assembly. But does anyone really expect that to happen?

The Orrock proposal is akin to the hidden tax increase in the Senate transportation bill that has Republican anti-taxers in a lather. Fuel taxes would be tied to construction costs. Because they usually don't go down, neither would the gasoline and diesel tax. There's every reason to believe the biggest nuts-and-bolts expense of Virginia government — salaries and benefits — would behave similarly.

Orrock, who teaches agriculture at Spotsylvania High School and refuses his school salary while in Richmond, says it's time to consider raising legislative pay. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Virginia is one of 14 states that has not raised legislative salaries in at least a decade. Back then, the state was in the top 20 in legislative salaries. Now, it's in the lower 25.

"We are part-time state employees," said Orrock, a delegate since 1990 and member of the House leadership as chairman of the health committee. "It ought to be our stated policy that we are treated no different than other state employees."

For Virginia Republicans, government compensation is a thorny issue. They routinely rail against government as too big, too intrusive and too costly. And yet a growing number of GOP lawmakers are seen as under-employed, lopsidedly dependent on their public paychecks. The McDonnell governorship may not be helping matters, luring legislators with high-paying, full-time jobs that usually mean richer pensions.

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, it's morning in Virginia.

And Republican is helping Republican — again.