Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Change In Employee Compensation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Joint committee fails to agree on change‑in‑employee‑compensation plan after considering four proposals
Summary
The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee considered four alternative change‑in‑employee‑compensation proposals for FY2026 on Jan. 31 — including flat‑dollar, guaranteed‑minimum, merit‑based and the governor’s 5% merit plan — but did not approve any plan and deferred the issue for further work.
The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee spent much of its Jan. 31 session debating four alternative change‑in‑employee‑compensation (CEC) proposals for FY2026 but did not approve any of the motions on the table and left the issue for a future meeting.
What was on the table: Committee staff presented four CEC proposals with detailed cost calculations and associated draft language: • Motion 1 (Representative Miller): Provide a $1.55 per hour increase per permanent employee (state agencies and institutions) with related items (community colleges, salary schedule adjustments for minimum pay grades, a 4.5% increase for IT/engineering workers, ISP trooper increases where listed, and $84,669,500 for public schools and the Idaho Bureau of Educational Services for the Deaf and the Blind). Total reported: $177,429,000 (general fund $128,354,900; dedicated $34,266,900; federal $14,807,200). • Motion 2 (Representative Furness, amended substitute): $1.55 per hour plus $611,500 to guarantee a minimum 3% for all state employees (with other adjustments similar to Motion 1). Total reported: $178,040,500 (general fund $128,643,300; dedicated $34,527,800; federal $14,869,400). • Motion 3 (Senator Cook, substitute): A merit‑based approach providing up to 4% per FTE (or $1.55 where applicable) with distribution by merit; motion’s total reported $180,312,100 (general fund $129,653,700; dedicated $35,430,300; federal $15,228,100). Senator Cook described this as pay by merit rather than a flat across‑the‑board raise. • Motion 4 (governor’s recommendation, Senator Wintrow): A 5% merit increase as proposed by the governor. Motion text reported a total of $180,653,800 with general fund $131,451,900 and federal $13,637,000; the dedicated‑fund line in the transcript was garbled and has been calculated as $35,564,900 to match the reported grand total (transcript contained an inconsistent numeric string for dedicated funds).
Debate highlights: Members debated flat dollar increases versus merit raises. Supporters of merit (Senator Cook and others) said merit preserves incentives to retain high performers; supporters of flat increases emphasized inflation relief and predictable increases for lower‑paid staff. Representative Furness and others raised actuarial/projection concerns on the insurance item earlier in the session and pressed fiscal prudence. Senator Cook and others underscored safeguards against favoritism, noting HR consolidation to centralize oversight.
Votes and outcomes: Committee members moved and seconded multiple substitute and original motions; several roll calls were taken across the session. No CEC motion achieved the required majority within the committee quorum for both chambers during the session and the committee recorded that the motions failed to pass. Committee chairs said the CEC motions are “too complex to calculate on the fly” and deferred further action. Agencies scheduled to be heard later in the day (Tax Commission, Office of Energy, Tax Appeals) were released and will be rescheduled.
Next steps: Committee staff and members will return to the CEC calculations and language and bring revised motions back at a future meeting. Members were reminded the joint voting letter and past practice for joint procedure govern how majority counts are calculated when the committee meets with both House and Senate members present.
