Oklahoma’s Statewide Official Compensation Commission voted on Tuesday to increase the salaries of 11 statewide elected officials.
These salary increases total around $413,000 dollars per year.
The commission previously voted Nov. 12 to increase salaries by more than $500,000, but rescinded this decision and approved different numbers.
The median household income in Oklahoma is just over $66,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Salary adjustments range from increases of 18% to over 40%.
Changes to salaries will not go into effect until after the next general election in November 2026.
Salary increases include:
- The governor will make $185,000, up from $147,000;
- The lieutenant governor will earn $150,000 a year, up from $114,713;
- The attorney general’s salary was bumped up to $175,000, an increase from $132,825;
- The state superintendent will make $175,000, up from $124,373. The panel had previously voted to increase this to $250,000;
- The treasurer’s salary will be $160,000, an increase from $114,713;
- The state auditor and inspector’s salary increased to $160,000, up from $114,713;
- The insurance commissioner will make $150,000, an increase from $126,713;
- The labor commissioner will earn $130,000, up from $105,053; and
- The three members of the Corporation Commissioners will each make $150,000, an increase from $114,713.
The Commission also included language in each motion that if any current lawmakers are elected to a statewide position, they can serve and earn the old salary.
“This was some language to try to least set that this body felt like should a sitting legislator want to run for a statewide office, our action here shouldn’t keep them from their ability to do that,” said David “Chip” Carter, chair of the Commission.
Former Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, questioned the panel’s transparency during a public comment period and said there was no public knowledge of what the proposed salary changes were ahead of the meeting.
The panel discussed salary changes behind closed doors in an executive session after discussing them in public at a meeting last week.
Carter said the executive session allowed members to discuss changes to salaries more freely.
“I think we were able to sit down and have a good conversation and have a chance to just reflect on what happened last meeting,” he said. “I think everybody wanted a do-over after last meeting.”
He said the Commission determined the new salaries based on inflation. He said in the years since the last salary adjustment, inflation had grown around 50%.
“I think all of us are aware of what’s being said and thought,” Carter said. “And we wanted to both do the right thing for the state’s elected officials, but also be very mindful of the hard working Oklahomans and how they will receive that, particularly when we’ve been in a hard economic climate here recently.”
The group was forced to reconvene after it was discovered that a member, James Leewright, was a registered lobbyist and ineligible to be on the board. Leewright is a former Republican lawmaker. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, then replaced Leewright with Krista Ratliff.
There were three other new members of the panel on Tuesday, including Bill Kern and Charlie Hannema, appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, and Leslie Walker, appointed by Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle. They replaced Chairman Brian Jackson, Robert DeNegri and Gary Unruh.