By Constitution Staff

Following public criticism over inconsistent salary decisions, two Oklahoma compensation boards reconsidered their votes setting the salaries for statewide offices and legislators. The newly created Statewide Official Compensation Commission (SOCC) and the Board on Legislative Compensation (BLC) held their third meeting on November 18, after it was determined one of the board members (members are the same on both boards) was ineligible to serve and vote at the board’s previous two meetings in October and earlier in November.

The SOCC had voted the previous week for controversial raises for a number of statewide offices. The most glaring example was doubling the salary for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to $250,000, which would have made it the highest-paid position in state government, surpassing the salary of the Governor. The justification was that the salaries of many school superintendents around the state were at that level or higher.

The SOCC, which was created by legislation approved last year, is statutorily required to have the same membership as the BLC. The two boards are also required by state law to meet on the same day.

One board member of the two bodies, James Leewright, is a former member of the state Senate and the House. But, because he is currently a registered lobbyist for multiple entities, he was not eligible to serve on the boards which made the votes he cast invalid. After this oversight was discovered, he was replaced with Krista Ratliff. She was appointed to the boards by the Speaker of the House, Kyle Hilbert, who originally appointed Leewright. Members of the two boards are appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the House, and the Senate President Pro Tempore. There were also three other new members of the boards, including Bill Kern and Charlie Hannema, appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, and Leslie Walker, appointed by Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton. They replaced Brian Jackson, Robert DeNegri and Gary Unruh.

With the new members in place, the SOCC amended the increased salaries for the 11 statewide elected officials that had been approved at the November 12 meeting. The new salaries are: Governor $185,000 (increased from $147,000), Lt. Governor $150,000 (increased from $114,713), Attorney General $175,000 (increased from $132, 825), State Superintendent $175,000 (increased from $124,373), State Treasurer $160,000 (increased from $114,713), State Auditor & Inspector $150,000 (increased from $114,713), Insurance Commissioner $150,000 (increased from $114,713), Labor Commissioner $130,000 (increased from $105,053) and Corporation Commissioners $150,000 (increased from $114,713). The last increase for statewide elected officials occurred in 2009 and took effect following the 2010 general election.

When the BLC held its first meeting last October, they voted not to raise the legislative salaries that were set in 2019. But at the November 18 meeting, the board approved raising the salaries of state legislators to $54,900 (from $47,500) and increased annual stipends for the Speaker of the House and Senate President Pro Tempore of half their salary or $27,450. The board also approved annual stipends of $18,177 for other legislative leaders, including the majority floor leaders and minority leaders in each chamber, the Appropriations Committee chairs in each chamber, the House Speaker Pro Tempore, the House majority leader and majority whip and three Senate assistant majority floor leaders.

The changes to salaries approved by the two boards will not go into effect until after the General Election in November 2026. However, the SOCC included specific language stating that if a sitting legislator was elected to a statewide office, they would be paid the pre-raise salary. This was an attempt to address what could have been an unintended consequence of the pay raises for statewide officials. Article 5, Section 23 of the Oklahoma Constitution says: “No member of the Legislature shall, during the term for which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any office or commission in the state, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during his term of office.” But, even with the new language, the issue could face a court challenge.

Not everyone is happy with the new salary schedules for legislators. Several legislators have filed legislation to undo the recent pay raises or revise the process.