Staff for Individual Legislators

Six counties have local delegation offices with shared staff.

The number of staff per legislator varies depending on their position.

Representatives share a secretary with another legislator; however, House leadership and committee chairs usually have their own secretarial staff. All legislators share professional research staff.

The legislators share eight member-services staff members; two staff members per 25 legislators.

Senate & Representative: Each Senator is granted 1,300 aide hours for FY 2021-22. Legislators: For FY 2021-22, there are 31.8 Senate Staff. 11.2 of whom are Majority Caucus Staff, 7.2 of whom are Minority Caucus Staff, and 13.4 of whom are nonpartisan staff. Of the 11.2 Majority Caucus Staff, 10 are year-round, and 1.2 are session-only. Of the 7.2 Minority Caucus Staff, 6 are year-round, and 1.2 are session-only. And of the 13.4 nonpartisan staff, 5 are year-round, and 8.4 are session only.

The numbers are for staff assigned to specific legislators. There is additional staff working in the leadership offices that also support the rank and file members.

Staffers are a combination of full time, part time, shared, personal, etc. and their assignments change throughout the year.

Personal and district staff are the same. In Florida, district employees may travel to the capitol for sessions (two district employees in the Senate and one district employee in the House).

The Senate has two full-time, year-round employees (chief of staff to president pro tempore and secretary of the senate) and one part-time, year-round employee (minority chief of staff). The Senate had 50 full-time employees during the 2019 legislative session (January-April). The House has two full-time, year round employees (chief of staff to the speaker and chief fiscal officer) and one part-time, year-round employee (chief clerk of the house). The House had 36 full-time employees during the 2019 legislative session (January-April).

Each senator has one secretary and two House members share a secretary. Partisan staffers also help legislators with many issues as well as staffing committees. Most senators and representatives have one or two district office employees, paid from a separate allowance for that purpose.

Leadership has one legislative assistant. During session, college interns are hired to provide additional staff- one for every two members. Leadership has one intern.

One clerical staff person for three individual House members is the norm. Chairpersons are provided their own individual clerical staff person.

The General Assembly is provided professional and clerical staff services by a centralized, non-partisan staff, with the exception of House and Senate leadership which employs partisan staff. No district staff provided.

Each legislator may hire as many assistants as desired, but pay from public funds ranges from $2,000 to $3,000 per month per legislator. Assistant(s) generally work in the district office but may also work at the capitol during the session.

The six caucuses are assigned one full-time position each (potentially 24 legislators per one staff person).

Personal: No Senate positions are exclusive to any one member. The President’s Office does work for the Senate President, however they also work in conjunction with the Majority Office caucus. Shared: Year Round and Session Only. Secretary’s Office: 10 YR, 5 SO; President’s Office: 8 YR; Majority office: 8 YR; Minority office: 6 YR. This is difficult to quantify. It can fluctuate depending on the office structure and total number of members for each caucus. Currently, the Senate Democrats have 21 members and the Senate Republicans have 14. Number of legislators per staff person: again, this is difficult to quantify. Legislative Aides are assigned to multiple members, yet the Communications Director works for all members of the caucus.

This is an average as some have 12, 14 and one legislator has seven. The 151 House members do not have individual staff. Speaker’s office: 8 year round. Clerk’s office: 12 year round, 1 part-time, 10 session-only.

Senate: Funds are included to permit each senator to hire an administrative aide that is a regular full-time, benefited employee. The current salary range for these positions is $39,000 to $71,190. Funds are included to permit each senator to hire a secretary for the legislative session. This is generally a benefited employee. For fiscal 2017, each position was budgeted at $8,118. Each senator is provided with a District Office Allowance of $18,965. Of this amount, $5,800 is restricted to staff assistance. Nine leadership positions are each provided with $20,436, of which $6,500 is restricted to staff assistance.Each senator is provided with a Supplemental Operating Fund in the amount of $7,500. This amount is intended to supplement the District Office Allowance and may be spent on operating expenses or for staff assistance at the senator’s option. House: Funds are included in the House budget to provide for payment of salaries attributable to specifically budgeted delegation staff positions. These are generally benefited positions that may work either a full-time or a part-time schedule depending on workload. The applicable salary for each budgeted delegation staff position is established based primarily on qualifications, experience, and anticipated workload. Funds are included to permit each delegate to hire a secretary for the legislative session. Each delegate’s secretary was funded at $2,755 for fiscal 2017, which if combined with two other delegates, approximates the amount budgeted for each senator’s secretary. Each delegate is provided with a District Office Allowance of $18,965. Of this amount, $5,800 is restricted to staff assistance. Twelve senior leadership positions are each provided with $20,436, of which $6,500 is restricted to staff assistance. Five delegation chair positions are each provided with $19,810, of which $5,800 is restricted to staff assistance.Each delegate is provided with a Supplemental Operating Fund in the amount of $3,546. This amount is intended to supplement the District Office Allowance and may be spent on operating expenses or for staff assistance at the delegate’s option.

Senate- majority, 2-6 staff per legislator; minority, 2-3 staff per legislator. House- 2 staff per legislator.

Senate: One to two staff persons per legislator. House: .5 to 1.5 staff persons per legislator.

Senate- Majority Leader, 3 staff; Minority Leader, 2 staff; Other Senators 1 staff per legislator. Secretarial staff. House- 1 staff per legislator. Secretarial staff; Leadership positions are assigned additional staff.

Secretarial staff; in North Dakota, leadership only.

Varies depending upon allowance allocated to each member. Members have considerable independence in hiring personal and committee staffs. Legislative employees can be annual, session, or temporary.

Part time during interim.

Some leadership offices have more.

Some legislators maintain district offices at their own expense.

Some offices have more.

1-Senate; Pro Tem- 6 staff persons; Senate Minority Leader-1 staff person. Senate; Pro Tem- 5 staff persons; House: year round one to five, majority party only; minority party one staff person per legislator. Research, fiscal and legal staffs are available to legislators on a year round.

Varies – individual members given office budget with which they can hire one or more staff. Leadership (Senate President and Senate Majority and Minority Leaders) given additional budget to hire staff to support leadership and caucus operations.

Varies – most members do not have district offices or staff, which would come out of their general office budget.

The General Assembly has a total of 280 full time positions, 267 full-time shared staff and additional 13 full-time positions for the House.

The nonpartisan Legislative Research Council serves all members of both houses year round. Committee secretaries and legislative interns and pages provide support during the sessions.

Staff numbers vary depending on the legislator. Each legislator is allotted and office budget and has independence in using that budget for hiring staff.

Most legislators are assigned one university student intern during session who is temporarily employed by the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel. Some legislators provide their own personal intern (volunteer or financial arrangements are made between them). Senate: The Senate employs four full-time constituent services staff to take care of administrative matters and constituent inquiries year round. Three serve 23 majority members and one serves six minority members. House: The House Majority has seven full-time staffers that serve 59 majority house members. The House Minority has three full-time staffers who serve 16 minority house members. The Utah House of Representatives also employs three full-time non-partisan staff members.

No personal staff except one chief of staff for for the Speaker and one for the Senate Pro Tempore.

Senate – One administrative assistant (secretary) provided to the members during the session by the Clerk’s offices. Members also receive a set dollar allowance to hire additional legislative assistants who may serve year round at the capitol and in the district. House – Members also receive a set dollar allowance to hire additional legislative assistants who may serve year round at the capitol and in the district.

Staffing levels vary according to majority/minority status and leadership or committee responsibilities. Members may assign staff to work in the district office.

Individual staffing and staff pool arrangements are at the discretion of the individual legislator.

Each senator has the authority to hire at least two full-time, year-round staff. Each representative has the authority to hire at least one full-time, year-round staff. Depending on leadership or committee chair assignment, additional staff positions may be authorized.

One clerk provided in capitol. District/Caucus – 11 staff persons for Republicans and 9 staff persons for Democrats.

The numbers given represent full-time staff. The Senate has roughly 20 per diem staff. The House has roughly 30 per diem staff.

A total of 10 permanent staff work for the House leadership offices and 9 work for the Senate leadership offices. The number of session staff may vary from session to session.

Same staff provisions as for Senate members.