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House committee adopts pay-plan bill after technical fixes; attempt to remove legislative pay increase fails
Summary
The House Finance Committee approved House Bill 13 as amended after passing several technical amendments. A separate amendment to remove language increasing legislative pay failed on a 10-13 roll call; the committee approved the amended bill by voice/roll call and advanced it out of committee.
The House Finance Committee approved House Bill 13 as amended after a series of technical amendments and a contested vote over legislative pay. Committee members passed three technical amendments unanimously and rejected an amendment that would have removed provisions adjusting legislative pay.
Chair Jones recognized a motion to adopt House Bill 13 and committee members took executive action on multiple amendments before final passage. Representative Fitzpatrick moved several technical amendments (amendments 0013.001.001, 0013.001.004 and 0013.001.007) to correct drafting errors and fiscal-year dates; committee members approved those technical fixes by voice votes and recorded proxies where applicable.
Representative Mercer then offered amendment 0013.001.005, which would have deleted sections of the bill addressing legislative compensation. Mercer argued the bill should not combine executive-branch employee pay policy with changes to legislative pay and raised fiscal concerns; Mercer also circulated a handout showing historical legislative compensation increases. Representative Fitzpatrick and others argued the pay adjustment in the bill ties future legislative pay to a public wage index and would remove the recurring need to revisit pay on the floor.
The committee voted by roll call on Mercers amendment (0013.001.005). The roll call recorded 10 yes and 13 no; the amendment failed. The committee then voted to adopt House Bill 13 as amended. A subsequent roll call recorded 16 yes and 7 no; the bill passed the committee and will proceed according to chamber rules.
What the bill and debate covered: - Technical fixes: Amendments 0013.001.001, 0013.001.004, and 0013.001.007 corrected drafting errors related to documentation of lodging receipts, fiscal-year dates for the university system and the executive branch, and clarity that certain appropriations apply in both fiscal years. Those technical amendments passed by voice vote with proxies recorded as needed. - Legislative pay: Representative Mercer said the fiscal note "shows that, if you approve it in the current form, we will be increasing the pay of legislators in fiscal year 27 by 1,377,000,000 and we will be increasing legislative pay in fiscal year 29 by 2,200,000," language she cited from the fiscal note. Other members disputed the framing or said indexing pay to the state average wage removes repeated floor votes on pay. Representative Fitzpatrick, the bill sponsor, opposed the Mercer amendment; Representative Gillette and others said they supported removing pay language from this bill to avoid perception and budget timing issues.
Votes at a glance: - Amendment 0013.001.001 (technical): moved by Representative Fitzpatrick; passed (voice vote, unanimous; proxies recorded). - Amendment 0013.001.004 (technical): moved by Representative Fitzpatrick; passed (voice vote, unanimous; proxies recorded). - Amendment 0013.001.007 (technical): moved by Representative Fitzpatrick; passed (voice vote, unanimous; proxies recorded). - Amendment 0013.001.005 (delete legislative compensation): moved by Representative Mercer; failed (roll call: 10 yes, 13 no). - Final: House Bill 13 as amended passed the committee (roll call: 16 yes, 7 no).
Representative comments reflected both procedural and substantive concerns. Supporters of removing the pay provisions argued for transparency and for handling compensation as a stand-alone issue; opponents argued the bill sets a predictable index-based mechanism for future adjustments and said compensation changes would not take effect during the session in which they are adopted.
Committee staff and the bill sponsor answered technical questions during the amendment process. Julie (staff) clarified that language in an amendment made appropriations clear for both fiscal years; Quinn and Mr. Holzer provided drafts and technical explanations during the hearing.
With the committees action the bill moves forward with the technical clean-ups intact and the legislative pay structure left in place.
