Welcome to WCCSEO!
Welcome to the website of the Washington Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials. We invite you to look through our web pages for information about the work we do.
Our job is to set the salaries of the elected officials in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of state government including:
- Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, Attorney General, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of Public Lands, and Insurance Commissioner;
- Members of the Legislature; and
- Justices of the Supreme Court and judges of the Court of Appeals, Superior Courts, and District Courts.
Our salary setting process is thoughtful, non-political, objective, and meets the intent of the constitutional amendment that created us.
During the 1986 session, the Legislature approved a bill to implement the Commission on January 1, 1987, subject to voter approval of a proposed constitutional amendment. House Joint Resolution 49, the 78th amendment to the Constitution passed at the November 4, 1986, general election. That measure removed the salary setting function from the Legislature and placed it in the hands of an independent citizen commission.
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The following information is posted to clarify the issue of whether the Commission may reduce the salaries of the state’s elected officials. Click here for the complete document.
Language prohibiting the reduction of the elected officials’ salaries has always been in the Constitution which was ratified by the voters on October 1, 1889.
Article 2, Section 25: “The legislature shall never grant any extra compensation to any public officer, agent, employee, servant, or contractor, after the services shall have been rendered, or the contract entered into, nor shall the compensation of any public officer be increased or diminished during his term of office.”
Article 3, Section 25: “No person except a citizen of the United States and a qualified elector of this state, shall be eligible to hold any state office. The compensation for state officers shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which they shall have been elected.”
Two amendments to the Constitution changed Section 25 of Articles 2 and 3:
The 54th amendment to the Constitution (approved by the voters in 1967) added Article 30 to the Constitution. It authorized mid-term increases in the salaries of certain public officials, including the state elected officials and repealed the restriction against mid-term increases contained in Section 25 of Articles 2 and 3.
The 78th amendment to the Constitution (approved by the voters in 1986) added Article 28 to the Constitution. It created the Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials and granted it salary setting authority for the elected officials but did not repeal the prohibition against decreasing salaries found in Section 25 of Articles 2 and 3.
Until such time as the Constitution is amended to delete the prohibition against salary decreases, the Commission is forbidden from decreasing the salaries of the elected officials during their term of office.
The Washington Constitution may be viewed on the Legislature’s home page at www.leg.wa.gov click on the Laws and Regulations tab on the left.
We evaluate the position - Voters evaluate the performance.