Many state legislators balance their public office with other employment, although they face regulations that address the type of jobs they may have. Regulations exist in the areas of holding another elected office, becoming a lobbyist, having a contract with government and representing a client before state government. States also have regulated state legislators holding another public sector job. Dual employment, also known as double-dipping, is the practice of drawing two government incomes from current employment.
This table only addresses cases of concurrent employment, not when a legislator also receives public funds from a retirement or military pension.
Laws vary considerably among the 50 states and generally fall into six categories.
1. Twenty states place no restrictions on state legislators holding other employment at the state or local level. They are Alabama, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming.
2. Seven states, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, Vermont, West Virginia and South Dakota, allow legislators to hold state (and political subdivisions thereof) employment as long as the legislator is not paid more than once for coincident hours of the workday.
3. Arkansas and Rhode Island allow legislators to hold employment at the state or local level as long as the legislator was hired as an employee before being elected to office. Arkansas also describes the types of employment promotions and salary increases allowed while the employee serves as a legislator.
4. Employment positions that could conflict with duties as a state legislator are bannedin six states, Florida, Maine, Mississippi, New York, Virginia and Wisconsin.
5. Arizona, Louisiana, Ohio and Oregon ban all public employment for state legislators except for public school employment.
6. State legislators are prohibited from holding any employment at the state or local level in nine states and three territories. They are California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Two other states, Alaska and Nebraska, ban employment at the state level. Alaska does not ban employment at the local level. In Nebraska, according to an attorney general opinion, the law is unsettled whether legislators can hold local employment.
Table of States and Territories
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