ATLANTA — House lawmakers will soon vote on whether or not their salaries should be doubled starting 2023.

The bill, that has support from Republican and Democratic state legislators, was approved by the House Rules Committee Wednesday, setting it up for a full floor vote in the coming days.

The measure would spike lawmakers’ salaries to nearly $30,000 — about double the current level — but will go into effect in 2023, after the next election cycle. Currently, lawmakers make a $17,342 part-time salary.

The salaries for House and Senate leadership would see a significant increase. The salary for lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House would be set at $135,000. House Speaker David Ralston’s current salary is about $100,000 a year while Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan makes about $92,000.

Last year, lawmakers debated and ultimately passed a pay cut to their salaries when the pandemic was expected to dismantle the state’s budget. But this year, Gov. Brian Kemp boasted a sunnier economic outlook than expected and lawmakers restored some cuts made in the amended Fiscal Year 2021 budget.

Ralston said Georgia lawmakers have gone without a pay raise for more than two decades.

“I don’t know many people who have gone that long without some kind of pay raise,” he said.

“I don’t really know anyone that wants a legislative chamber to be made up exclusively of people that are independently wealthy or they’re retired,” Ralston told reporters Wednesday. “So, if we’re going to have people who are lawyers and doctors and teachers and business owners and farmers, then I think this is the right thing to do, frankly.”

State compensation commission reports are designed to study and recommend compensation for constitutional state officers — including members of the General Assembly. Since 2017, the reports have recommended an increase for state lawmaker positions.

The 2020 report recommends increasing salaries beginning January 2023, when newly elected lawmakers are sworn in. It determined the current salaries for the lieutenant governor and speaker of the House are “not based on the full-time commitment for fulfilling the roles and responsibilities of the job.”

The study cites Georgia’s growing population and compares the state’s salaries to its neighbors — Alabama, where lawmakers make more than double what Georgia lawmakers are paid.

Rep. Wes Cantell, R-Woodstock, the bill’s sponsor, said the legislative body misses out on lawmakers who cannot afford to serve on the current lawmaker salary.

“A reasonable pay increase would open up the possibility of public service in the legislature for more Georgians,” Cantrell said Wednesday. “Right now, when you look around the chamber, it appears that it’s limited to the rich, the poor, those who are married to someone with a good salary, and people like those of us in this room this morning who love our state so much, they will serve — no matter what.”

Cantrell said there is no fiscal note but by his calculations it would cost about $3.2 million for the year.

Rep. Al Williams, D- Midway, said with the prevalence of social media, a lawmaker’s job doesn’t stop at the end of the day or even end of the session.

“Now, Walmart, Target, you have offices everywhere. Sunday morning I’ve had folks come to my house and knock on my door,” he said. “That is not the mark of a citizen legislator.”