6 Perks Texas Lawmakers Collect That Their $7,200 Salary Doesn’t Show
Texas voters fixed state lawmakers’ pay at $7,200 a year in 1975.
The number hasn’t budged since.
As with so many things when it comes to the government, this doesn’t show the full picture.
These are the payments and benefits Texas lawmakers collect that their $7,200 salary never shows.
Note: This is general information about how Texas compensates its state lawmakers, not legal or financial advice. Salary, per diem, pension, and benefit figures are set by the Texas Constitution, state law, and state agency rule, and are subject to change.
1. Per Diem That Dwarfs the Salary
Texas lawmakers collect $221 for every single day the Legislature meets, a rate the Texas Ethics Commission sets under Commission Rule 50.1.
That comes on top of the $7,200 salary, not instead of it.
A regular session can run up to 140 days.
Run the math on a full session, and the per diem alone tops $30,000, more than four times the constitutional salary.
Every session day counts toward that total, whether a lawmaker shows up at the Capitol or not.
Attendance is optional.
The Texas Supreme Court settled that question decades ago, ruling the per diem pays a lawmaker for the whole term of service, not for daily attendance.
2. Pension Built on a Judge’s Paycheck
A Texas lawmaker’s pension formula runs off a district judge’s salary, not their own $7,200 paycheck, but only for a lawmaker who joined the retirement system before September 1, 2022.
State law calls this the Elected Class benefit, and the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) administers it.
Under Government Code Section 814.103, the formula multiplies 2.3% of a $175,000 judicial benchmark salary by every year a lawmaker served.
Eight years is all it takes to vest.
Not long at all.
Vest at eight years and retire at 60, or serve 12 years and retire at 50, and either path unlocks the annuity for life.
A lawmaker who took office on or after that September 2022 cutoff joins ERS’s Group 4 cash-balance plan instead, with no link to a judge’s salary at all.
The Math Behind a Longtime Lawmaker’s Eight-Year Pension
Eight years is the minimum time a Texas lawmaker in the Elected Class plan needs to vest in this judge-linked pension.
At that minimum, the formula works out to 18.4% of $175,000, or about $32,200 a year, paid for life starting at 60.
That’s over four times the $7,200 salary that earned it, and the number only grows with every additional year served.
3. State-Paid Health Insurance
The state covers the full monthly premium on a Texas lawmaker’s own health insurance.
The Employees Retirement System runs the plan through its Texas Employees Group Benefits Program, and it also covers half the cost of insuring a lawmaker’s spouse or kids.
A lawmaker pays only that family half out of pocket.
Solo coverage costs nothing.
4. Free Basic Life Insurance
Signing up for that health plan hands a Texas lawmaker $5,000 of basic term life insurance at no cost.
A matching $5,000 of accidental death and dismemberment coverage comes with it.
Both ride along automatically.
A lawmaker who wants more can buy additional term life insurance at the state’s group rate, but the first $5,000 of each policy is free the moment they enroll in the health plan.
5. Mileage for Every Drive to Austin
A Texas lawmaker driving between home and the Capitol collects mileage reimbursement at the state’s standard travel rate.
Every trip adds up.
The Comptroller’s office set that rate at 72.5 cents a mile for 2026.
A lawmaker from El Paso or the Rio Grande Valley can log hundreds of miles each way, session after session, on top of the per diem that covers the days themselves.
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6. Discounted Dental and Vision
Dental and vision coverage is also open to Texas lawmakers, run through the same Employees Retirement System as their health plan.
There's no state match here.
Humana Dental administers two plan options, and State of Texas Vision covers glasses, contacts, and eye exams.
A lawmaker pays the full premium out of pocket, but at the same negotiated group rate the state's tens of thousands of other employees get.
That group rate usually runs well below what an individual buyer finds on the open market.
The Separate Staff and Office Budget
Every Texas lawmaker gets a separate operating budget, apart from salary, to cover staff pay, district office rent, and supplies.
House members' operating accounts run $21,250 a month during session and $18,500 between sessions, set by the House Committee on House Administration for the 89th Legislature on Feb. 18, 2025.
Senators draw a $73,150 monthly cap covering staff salaries and intrastate staff travel combined, set by Section 10 of Senate Resolution 1 when the 89th Legislature convened in January 2025.
That's not the salary line.
Lawmakers spend these accounts on district staff and vendors, not on themselves.
The money moves through payroll and invoices, never a personal check.
The Per Diem's Long Rise
Texas set its first legislative per diem at $30 a day in 1975, the same year voters fixed lawmakers' $600 monthly salary.
That $30 rate rose in stages over the decades that followed.
Seven times over.
The Texas Ethics Commission holds the sole authority to raise the rate again, and it last set the number at $221 under Commission Rule 50.1.
A future Legislature could raise the $600 monthly salary the same way 1975's amendment set it, through another joint resolution and another statewide vote.
No lawmaker has forced that vote since, even as the per diem rose more than sevenfold on its own.
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