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Committee briefed on statewide revenue, compensation and benefit options before votes this week
Summary
Legislative staff presented the statewide decisions packet including two revenue forecast options, proposed change‑in‑employee‑compensation (CEC) packages, a proposal for health insurance (personnel benefit) funding and statewide cost allocation adjustments; the committee was told votes are scheduled later in the week.
Keith Bybee and staff from the Legislative Services Office briefed the Joint Finance Committee on the packet of statewide decisions that members will vote on later in the week, including two choices for the general fund revenue forecast, personnel benefit cost adjustments, contract inflation, statewide cost allocations and change‑in‑employee‑compensation (CEC).
Bybee summarized two revenue options: the governor’s recommended general fund revenue number and the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee’s projection. He said the committee will set a revenue forecast for purposes of budget setting and noted the governor’s recommended figure differs from the forecast used to prepare the executive budget.
Personnel benefits: Bybee said the governor’s recommendation would fund health insurance increases at a higher level (an increase that Legislative Services Office materials quantified for eligible employees) and the committee could adopt an alternate, lower funding level recommended by the CEC committee. Division of Financial Management administrator Laurie Wolf said the employee group insurance actuary issued projections and cautioned that funding lower benefit amounts could put reserves at risk; Wolf said a lower funding choice could require a larger per‑employee adjustment the following year.
CEC and compensation: Bybee walked through two options for CEC: the governor’s recommendation (a 5% or equivalent pay increase and specified schedule shifts) and the CEC committee’s recommendation (a flatter per‑hour dollar increase proposed as $1.55 per eligible hour). He cautioned that detailed salary schedule calculations were still being finalized and that some numbers in the packet could change slightly before Thursday’s vote.
Statewide cost allocation: Bybee noted updates to statewide cost allocation, with higher billings to agencies for services such as the controller and IT services reflecting rate adjustments and a one‑time catch‑up related to a previous calculation issue.
Members asked for additional detail on the CEC recommendations and impacts on highly skilled and high‑salary positions; Senator Ward Engelking requested options that would better preserve purchasing power for such employees. Bybee and agency staff said they would provide supplemental analyses and memos to inform Thursday’s votes.
Ending: The committee scheduled votes on revenue, compensation, benefit and statewide allocation items for later in the week and asked staff to provide follow‑up analyses on the CEC options and the insurance reserve implications.
