7 Perks Virginia Legislators Receive That Voters Rarely Hear About

Virginia last raised a state senator’s pay in 1988, and it settled at $18,000.

Delegates earn less than that.

The salary is the number that gets quoted. What comes with a job that meets 30 to 60 days a year never does.

These are the perks Virginia legislators receive that voters rarely hear about.

Note: This is general information, not financial advice. Salary and benefit figures are set by the state budget and can change; JLARC publishes updated legislative compensation reports as the numbers shift.

1. Collecting a Pension While Still Serving

A Virginia legislator who already collects a pension from an earlier government career doesn’t have to give it up to run for the General Assembly.

Not a cent of it goes back.

Virginia law normally cuts off a state retiree’s pension the moment they return to a job covered by the state retirement system, under Virginia Code § 51.1-155.

The General Assembly wrote itself an exception to that rule.

State law singles out sitting delegates and senators by name, letting them keep drawing a pension earned in an earlier career in teaching, law enforcement, or state government.

They draw that pension while also drawing legislative pay, according to a 2024 review by the General Assembly’s watchdog agency, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC).

No other state retiree gets that carve-out.

Many voters who assume “retired” means retired never learn about the overlap unless somebody points it out.

2. Retirement Savings the State Mostly Funds

Virginia legislators build a state pension just like many other state employees do, through the Virginia Retirement System.

Regular state workers pay 5% of their salary into that pension every paycheck.

Legislators don’t.

The same 2024 JLARC review found lawmakers aren’t required to make that standard employee contribution at all.

So the retirement credit they earn each year comes largely from state money instead of theirs.

A teacher or a state trooper watches that 5% leave their check for decades.

A member of the General Assembly watches theirs stay put.

3. Health Coverage for a 60-Day-a-Year Job

Virginia legislators can enroll in the same state employee health insurance plan that covers teachers, troopers, and every other state worker.

That’s a notable benefit for a job that only meets in Richmond for 30 to 60 days each year.

The JLARC review confirmed it directly: Lawmakers are offered health and retirement benefits similar to other state employees.

Many Virginians who work part-time jobs don’t get that kind of access.

4. Staff Money on Top of Salary

Every Virginia legislator gets state money to pay a legislative aide, on top of salary and per diem.

A single Senate staffer runs more than $70,000 a year in combined salary and allowance, per JLARC’s 2024 review.

A House aide costs a comparable amount.

None of that funding is tied to performance.

JLARC’s review found no requirement linking the money to how many bills a lawmaker files or how often they show up to vote.

A legislator who works every committee meeting draws the same staff funding as one who barely shows.

Nobody checks the output.

5. Extra Cash for Every Day in Session

Virginia lawmakers open every session to a second stream of income beyond their base pay.

That base pay hasn’t moved much since 1988, when it settled at $18,000 for a senator.

Delegates took a further 2% cut in 1991, landing at $17,640, according to the General Assembly’s watchdog agency, JLARC.

Session per diem tells a different story.

JLARC puts it at $237 for every day the General Assembly is in session.

Lawmakers don’t have to turn in a single receipt to collect it.

6. Earning Pay Even When the Session Ends

Virginia lawmakers don’t stop earning once the General Assembly gavels out for the year.

Between sessions, legislators sit on interim study committees and commissions that meet across the state.

They collect $300 for every day they show up, or $400 if more than one meeting falls on the same day.

Travel to those meetings pays too.

Lawmakers get 76 cents for every mile they drive to committee work outside session, the federal rate Virginia ties its mileage reimbursement to.

Virginia keeps the payments coming between sessions.

7. Monthly Money for Office Costs

State compensation figures put the office allowance at $1,250 a month for a rank-and-file General Assembly member, whether the legislature is in session or not.

Leadership draws more, $21,000 a year instead of the standard $15,000, according to JLARC’s 2024 review.

That’s $15,000 a year for many members, no matter how it gets spent.

A 1998 state commission recommended requiring receipts for part of that money, and Virginia never adopted the idea.

Nothing about the allowance depends on how many bills a lawmaker files or how often they show up to vote.

Virginia sends it regardless.

The Raise Already on the Books

Virginia lawmakers' frozen salary won't stay frozen forever.

Lawmakers passed a new state budget this year that raises legislative pay for the first time since 1988.

The enacted budget sets the new salary at $50,000 a year for both a delegate and a senator.

House and Senate negotiators had floated figures as low as $45,000 and as high as $55,000 before settling there.

That raise doesn't take effect until January 13, 2028, after the next General Assembly election, so today's lawmakers won't collect it themselves.

Someone else benefits.

How Virginia's Benefits Compare to Other States

Virginia isn't unusual in offering its legislators these benefits.

A 2024 review by JLARC found 41 states give lawmakers some kind of health insurance, and 35 offer a retirement plan of some sort.

Virginia sits with the majority.

What sets Virginia apart is the salary underneath those benefits.