Panel holds hearing on plan to raise officials' salaries

LITTLE ROCK — An Arkansas commission is holding a public hearing on its plan to more than double legislators' salaries and give substantial pay raises to other elected officials.

The Independent Citizens Commission planned to hold the hearing Monday at the University of Arkansas Administration office in Little Rock. The seven-member commission called for the pay raises in an initial review of salaries for the state's legislators, judges and constitutional officers.

The panel was created through a constitutional amendment voters approved in November.

The review calls for raising lawmakers' salaries from $15,869 a year to $39,400, an increase that commissioners said was tied to their recommendation to eliminate the $14,400 in annual office expenses legislators can currently claim.

The commission plans a final vote on the proposal March 13.

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