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On a 14-3 margin, members of the House Appropriations Committee agreed to ask voters to approve an inflation adjustment to their current legislative salary of $24,000. But Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, worded it in a way so the indexing would be computed from 1998 — the last time voters OK’d a pay hike — a move that would set salaries at close to $48,000.

That measure, which already has gained Senate approval, now goes to the full House.

But the panel then approved an entirely new proposal from Rep. David Livingston, R-Peoria which emerged Monday as an amendment to an unrelated bill during a hearing of the Appropriations Committee he chairs.

Livingston wants the daily “per diem’’ pay lawmakers who live in Maricopa County get to go from the current $35 a day to 80% of the rate paid to those from the other 14 counties during the first 120 days of the legislative session.

That translates out to about $200 a day — a five-fold increase.

That plan proved less palatable to committee members who approved it by a 10-7 margin amid complaints by Democrats that it was unconstitutional to use the allowance as a back-door method to raise legislative pay — especially as, unlike the Kavanagh proposal, voters would not get the last word.

Lawmakers from both parties have griped for years about low salaries that haven’t changed in decades, and until 2021, those same issues applied to daily expense money.

But in 2021, the Legislature passed a bill that boosted per diem rates for those living outside Maricopa County to the federal per diem rate, paid seven days a week when the Legislature is in session. That was a major increase from what they were previously getting in expense money, $60 a day for the first 120 days with a major cut after that.

The boost brought a non-Maricopa County lawmaker’s expense check for the first 120 days from $7,200 to $32,280.

If the Legislature remains in session for another 60 days, that pay goes to more than $40,000.

And it goes up every year because of inflation adjustments.

But lawmakers who reside in Maricopa County got no such raise, which was stuck at $35 a day, dropping to $10 a day after 120 days.

“I think there’s discrimination happening currently the way members of this body and Senate are paid, when you have members that literally could get three times the total pay package because they live outside of Maricopa versus inside,’’ Livingston said, noting that he drives nearly 30 miles to the Capitol four days a week. “This needs to be fixed.’’

Maricopa County lawmakers were excluded from the 2021 boost because former Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed a 2019 bill giving all lawmakers a big per diem boost. He said lawmakers living in metro Phoenix didn’t need to rent an apartment during the session or drive nearly as far and should not get a big expense raise. Many lawmakers who don’t live in the Phoenix area either buy a home or rent an apartment so they don’t have to stay in hotels.

So the measure that passed in 2021 excluded those, like Livingston, who live in Maricopa County. Ducey let the increase become law without his signature, the first time he had done that in his years as governor.

If the new proposal passes the House and Senate and is signed into law, Maricopa County lawmakers would get a raise in expense pay from the current $4,200 for the first 120 days to $25,800.

If they work another two months at half that monthly rate, as the legislation provides, their total expense pay would exceed $32,000.

And that’s on top of the $24,000 salary — or $48,000 if voters approve a pay hike in 2026.

Livingston gutted a bill passed by the Senate that provided pay raises for corrections officers and state troopers and replaced its language with the new legislative expenses proposal.

Sen. David Gowan, sponsor of that measure, agreed to let Livingston use his bill. But he said he also wanted changes to the 120-day cap on full expense pay, since the Legislature rarely completes its session in that time.

“There’s a piece where I want to go further, because I know that 120 days are disastrous for the out-counties, because it cuts (expense pay) right in half,’’ Gowan said. “So I think we need to do an amendment to that.’’

Livingston pledged to consider that and more. He said he was open to talks with minority Democrats on tweaks to the new rate for Maricopa County lawmakers and on when the increase should go into effect. He also said he was considering boosting pay for statewide elected officials like governor, attorney general and treasurer.

“It’s embarrassing how low we pay them to work year round, and they deserve, no matter what side of the aisle they happen to come from, to get paid more,’’ he said.

Gov. Katie Hobbs, the highest-paid of the statewide officeholders, earns $90,000 a year, with salaries of other officers like secretary of state, attorney general and treasurer substantially below that. And, unlike many states, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ does not have a governor’s mansion or residence.

Livingston’s proposal passed the Appropriations Committee on a 10-7 vote, with one member abstaining, with some Republicans and Democrats refusing to back the proposal.

“I don’t disagree that we need parity with the out-county members, but I have some constitutional concerns with moving in this way,’’ said Rep. Mariana Sandoval, D-Goodyear. She also said a deeper look was needed into whether some non-Maricopa County lawmakers who go home each night — and don’t need lodging in Phoenix — were getting paid too much in expenses.

But Rep. Kevin Volk, D-ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, said he fully understood the need for the increase. He said that besides travel and needing a place to stay, all lawmakers put in tremendous amounts of time on the job, both at the Capitol and at home.

“I am in favor of recognizing all of the costs, whether they’re direct costs like rental or household-related costs, but also the cost of time,’’ Volk said.

Kavanagh, promoting his salary plan hike linked to inflation from 1998, did not call it a pay raise.

“We’re not asking the voters to really in real dollars increase our pay,’’ he told the committee on Monday. “We’re asking them to keep our pay at the same real dollar amount that they thought it was worth in 1998.’’