Committee deadlocks on change‑in‑employee‑compensation motions; multiple proposals fail

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Jan. 31 considered four competing proposals for statewide change-in-employee-compensation (CEC) funding for fiscal year 2026 — options that ranged from a flat $1.55-per-hour increase to a 5% merit-based plan and mixed hybrid approaches — but the committee did not approve any CEC motion and left the issue for a future meeting.

Staff described four prepared CEC motions: (1) a CEC-adjusted recommendation that funds $1.55 per hour per permanent employee with specified increases for community colleges, public schools and other targeted groups (motion total presented as $177,429,000); (2) a dollar-55-plus-minimum-3%-for‑higher-pay option (motion total presented as $180,312,100 in the packet); (3) a merit-based approach providing up to 4% merit increases (distribution by merit rather than flat dollar); and (4) the governor’s recommendation, a 5% merit-based increase distributed by salary (packet figures summarized for members). Mr. Bybee, the committee analyst, walked members through the methodology used to calculate the dollar amounts and how the packages would be distributed across agencies and fund sources.

Multiple members spoke for and against…