Committee hears bill to study state employee pay, forwards measure to study

House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Timothy Schauer opened a hearing on House Bill 1580, a bill to create a legislative management study of state employee compensation levels.

Representative Steve Vetter, the bill sponsor, told the committee the study would examine state pay levels and their history, compare state wages with private-sector wages, evaluate use of equity funding and bonuses to retain employees, and consider prevailing-wage rules and wages paid when awarding state contracts. "Future legislative bodies would benefit and would be able to make more informed decisions with accurate and up to date information on state wages," Vetter said.

The bill drew support from Thomas Beadle, North Dakota state treasurer, who described agency-level and board-level compensation analyses already under way and urged a centralized study to get information to legislators. "Plenty of agencies are already working on that," Beadle said, and added that a study would likely require funding for an outside consultant if done thoroughly.

Committee members pressed on feasibility and cost. Representative Karen Karls recalled a previous consultant study and warned about the expense; others noted that some agency HR data are already available and could be gathered for legislators without duplicative contracts. The committee also discussed whether the study should be mandatory versus permissive; members moved an amendment to replace the word "shall" with "may" to give the interim committee scheduling flexibility.

After amendment and discussion, the committee voted to give House Bill 1580 a due-pass recommendation as amended. The committee vote was recorded as passing 8–4.