Legislators approve $1.55 hourly minimum and targeted raises in CEC package

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a compensation package that provides $1.55 per hour per full-time equivalent position for state agencies and institutions for fiscal year 2026, plus targeted adjustments for specific employee groups. Representative Miller, who moved the main motion, read the package and said it includes community college funding, salary-schedule shifts and additional increases for IT, troopers and health-care workers.

The package, as described by Keith Bybee, Division Manager, Budget Policy Analysis, covers $84,411,100 for the $1.55-per-hour adjustment to state agencies and institutions and totals $177,429,100 across general, dedicated and federal funds. It includes $2,305,700 for community colleges (funded as an estimated 5%), $6,042,800 for salary-schedule adjustments at the minimum of pay grades, a 4.5% adjustment for classified and nonclassified IT and engineering workers, funding that allows Idaho State Police troopers to receive up to an 8% increase, and funding so nursing and health-care employees receive $1.55 per hour or 3%, whichever is greater. The package also includes $84,669,500 for public schools and the Idaho Educational Services for the Deaf and the Blind.

Why it matters: lawmakers said the motion balances a baseline cost-of-living increase with targeted steps to address acute recruitment and retention needs in public safety, IT and health-care fields. The motion directs that the new funding must be used for personnel, requires reporting if agencies use existing salary savings to provide larger increases, and directs the Division of Human Resources and the Office of the State Comptroller to develop monthly reports on pay changes.

Committee debate highlighted tension between a universal minimum and targeted pay-for-performance. Senator Ward Engelking said the package does not solve pay compression for higher-paid, highly trained employees and said she could not support the motion, adding, "I'm still very concerned about the pay increase for our highly skilled, our highly trained, employees... I think we're compressing the salary schedule, and I think it's going to continue to cause us problems in the future in retaining state employees and being able to recruit them." Senator Melissa Wintrow expressed similar concerns about competitiveness and retention. Senator Cook said she would support the motion but called it short-sighted, arguing managers would be constrained in rewarding high performers.

Representative Miller, who moved the package, described it as a compromise that "strikes a balance between the needs of cost of living increases with a minimum dollar 1.55 and the opportunity toward those who are higher performers up to a dollar 1.55." After debate and roll-call votes, the committee recorded a combined result of 18 ayes and 2 nays; the two recorded no votes were Senator Ward Engelking and Senator Wintrow.

The motion also includes language that shifts four salary schedules upward by no less than $1.55 per hour and specifically funds additional increases for IT and engineering workers (4.5%), Idaho State Police troopers (up to 8%), and nursing and health-care workers (a greater of $1.55 or 3%). The package prohibits converting the new funding from personnel costs to other expenditure categories and requires agencies to revert and report any new funding not allocated for pay increases.

What’s next: the committee said the adjustment will be incorporated into the maintenance bill packages and carried to the floor with a due-pass recommendation. Staff were directed to compile a list of additional salary-boost requests that agencies submit beyond this CEC action for the committee’s review.

Ending: supporters characterized the package as a workable compromise to get money into employees’ paychecks while providing targeted relief; critics said it does not fully address long-term compression and retention problems and urged follow-up work next year to reform pay structures.