About Us
We were created by House Joint Resolution 49, an amendment to the state Constitution, that authorized creation of an independent, citizen commission to set the salaries of the state's elected officials. That constitutional amendment was passed by the voters on November 4, 1986.
Prior to the passage of the constitutional amendment, the 1986 Legislature passed a bill (ESHB 1331) to establish the Commission contingent upon passage of the constitutional amendment. That bill also defined how the salary setting work was to be accomplished.
We were created to establish proper salaries for the state's elected officials and to remove political considerations from the process.
The first rotation of commissioners were appointed in February 1987 and began the work of setting the elected officials' salaries that same month. We are responsible for setting the salaries of the the elected officials in the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative Branches of state government including:
- Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, Attorney General, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of Public Lands, and the Insurance Commissioner.
- Justices of the Supreme Court and judges of the Court of Appeals, Superior Courts, and District Courts.
- Members of the Legislature
In total, we set the salaries of 479 elected state officials; most of which are judges.
Please click on the subjects below for additional information about us.
Salary Setting Process -- How the salary setting process works.
Salary Setting Authority -- Our salary setting authority.
Legal Authority -- The constitutional and statutory authority references that authorize our work.
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