Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, today disclosed that he will donate his share of a pay increase recently approved for state lawmakers to the Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank.
“I learned today there is no easy way to decline this pay increase. We did not ask for it, and did not vote for it, so I figured donating the pay increase to the Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank would make sure this pay raise benefits our local community”.
Mullet will donate the first portion of the pay raise, $3,368, when it kicks in this September. The following year the amount of his donation will increase to $4,723 as the second portion of the pay raise takes effect. Mullet was a Board Member of the Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank before getting elected to the State Legislature.
Since 1986, when voters adopted a constitutional amendment revoking the salary setting authority of the Legislature, legislators’ salaries have been set by the independent Washington Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials. The independent commission this month approved an 11.2-percent COLA for legislators that phases in over two years.
“My decision today is about what’s right for me, not about what state lawmakers deserve to be paid,” Mullet said. “As the owner of two small businesses, I am able to give myself the flexibility to work at a separate job during the eight months we are not in legislative session in Olympia.”
