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Committee backs making pardon and parole board full-time, raising pay
Summary
The committee voted 7-1 to report House Bill 19 68 as do pass. The bill would make the Pardon and Parole Board full-time, raise members' pay from $22,000 to about $85,000, create a pool of part-time substitutes, and carries a fiscal estimate of about $400,000 the first year and roughly $600,000 thereafter.
Representative Williams said House Bill 19 68 would convert the Pardon and Parole Board from a part-time panel to full-time employment, increase the members' pay, and create a part-time substitute pool to ensure five-member panels for hearings.
"It makes the part and parole board a full time employment and raises their part time salary from 22,000 to about $85,000," Representative Williams said, adding that the bill establishes an alternative group of part-time members who can be installed to maintain a five-member panel when vacancies occur.
Williams told the committee that staffing shortages have reduced the number of panelists available for hearings and that a full-time structure and higher compensation would help ensure fair hearings. He estimated the fiscal cost at "around 400 and some thousand dollars the first year and then up to about 600,000 the second year and beyond." He also said the substitute panelists would step in when members are absent or recuse.
Members pressed the sponsor on the need for substitutes and raised a pending lawsuit in which a recusal left a smaller panel for a hearing. Representative Hopper noted the lawsuit and said the bill would address the problem that prompted litigation. Some members questioned whether quorum rules already allowed hearings with fewer members and whether alternatives were necessary.
The committee voted 7-1 to report the bill out as do pass.
