The talk of Louisiana lately has been our state Legislature’s move to adopt a bill that would double the salary of a legislator. And by the looks of things, it may very well become a reality.

Senate Bill 672, sponsored by Sen. Ann Duplessis, D-New Orleans, won approval by a narrow 20-16 vote in the Senate Tuesday. The bill slid through to a vote without much discussion, which is a sign of things to come.

The bill would bring a lawmaker’s annual salary to around $50,700, 30 percent of the full-time base salaries of members of Congress. But totaling base pay, expenses and per diem, legislators could be making near $70,000 if the bill is passed. Top-ranking legislators, such as the Senate President and the Speaker of the House, would wind up with slightly more. The bill also calls for raises each year, in conjunction with Congressional raises.

I guess we should be somewhat happy, because it could have been worse. Duplessis removed wording that would double the expense allowance to $12,000 a year.

Do our legislators deserve a pay raise? Perhaps, but at nowhere near the scale proposed in this bill.

Before the Senate approved the bill, Sen. Butch Gautreaux, D-Morgan City, distributed a series of “testimonials” from legislators who detailed their financial strains while dedicating so much time toward public office.

Excuse me if I don’t shed a tear there. Sen. Gautreaux. The last time I checked, the majority of “common folk” can’t go to their boss and tell them, “You’re giving me a raise because I said so.” Even if they ask politely for a raise, no boss is willing to give that big of a pay hike at one time.

The decision whether to raise the salaries of legislators should be left in the hands of their bosses – the voting public. The problem is that many legislators forget that they work for us, the people who voted them into office. We “hired” them, in a way. They knew what the job entailed when they took it - a part-time job at that.

Supporters of this bill want to earn a full-time salary for a part-time job. In every other job, what does earning a raise involve? Usually, a review of the employee’s performance if it is a merit-based increase. In essence, we as the legislators’ employers review them every four years during elections.

If legislators want a pay raise, but don’t want to leave it in the hands of the “common folk,” there’s an easy way to solve that problem – make the position a full-time job. If these legislators truly care about the people of Louisiana and want to be paid a salary that’s actually higher than that of an average full-time employee for their legislative work, they can quit their current job and work for the state full time. In that case, pay at such a level may be a little more warranted. However, holding their current job, some of which already make money from the government, with their current income and padding another full-time salary on top of that is unnecessary.

In the current state of our economy, people are trying to conserve as much money as they can. Rising costs of fuel, food and other necessities have the average person scrapping just to make ends meet nowadays. For lawmakers to blatantly up their own pay astronomically and then shove it down the throats of their constituents is an outright travesty.

The bill passed through a House committee disturbingly fast with little discussion Wednesday morning, with the committee suspending the rules to do so. It was set to go to the full House for a final verdict. Some have said that the full House would also suspend the rules and vote for the pay raise Friday, sending the bill to the governor’s desk. That is nothing more than a slap in the face of the voters or these legislators who support the raise giving voters the old one-fingered salute and saying they will do what they want to do, not the will of the people who put them into office.

The fate of the matter is basically in the hands of Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has said through his press secretary that while he “strongly disagrees” with any pay increase, he does not plan to veto the bill. Jindal technically has three options, but only one denies passage. He can veto the bill, sign it into law or do nothing and have the bill automatically go into law. However, it’s been reported that Speaker of the House Jim Tucker, a Jindal appointee, has basically blackmailed the governor into allowing the pay raise or risk not having initiatives pass. Tucker, of course, denies the accusations.

If Jindal wants to hold true to his campaign promises to change the way things are done in Louisiana, he should show some guts and veto this bill, instead of bowing to political pressure. Otherwise, the old “politics as usual” excuse in Louisiana will ring true once again.

I do applaud our own Sen. Jody Amedee, D-Gonzales, for voting against the bill Tuesday. While he was in the minority, his vote shows that he understands the ramifications of the situation and listens to the people of his district. I hope that our local House members - Republican Eddie Lambert of Prairieville, Republican M.J. “Mert” Smiley Jr. of Port Vincent and Democrat Elton Aubert of Vacherie – do the same.

I urge you to call your respective representatives - Aubert at 265-1831, Lambert at 644-4947 and Smiley at 698-9694 – and the governor’s office at 342-7015 and tell them to vote against or veto the pay hike in this form. Whether legislators deserve a raise or not isn’t the issue. It should be the voters who decide.

Hopefully, the requests will not be falling upon deaf ears.