Committee accepts corrected CEC recommendation letter clarifying employee pay changes

Legislative Services on Monday presented corrected language to a Committee on Employee Compensation (CEC) recommendation letter; Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee members accepted the technical revisions by unanimous consent.

Frances Lippitt, a budget and policy analyst with Legislative Services, told the panel the corrected letter more closely reflected the committee's action taken the prior week. She said the first correction removed previously included "flexibility language": the committee's motion had recommended a salary increase "of a dollar 55 per hour per FTP," and the original draft had incorrectly included additional flexibility language that the committee's motion did not contain.

Lippitt also said the committee had intended the action to recommend a 4.5% market-based increase for IT and engineering employees in addition to the $1.55-per-hour-per-FTE increase. "The motion in committee that passed did not include that flexibility language," she said, and the additional clarification ensures the 4.5% market adjustment is treated as additive rather than substitutive.

A committee member asked whether the IT/engineering market adjustment applies across agencies; Lippitt responded that the committee's motion applied to employees on the IT and engineering salary schedule and likely did not include non-classified IT and engineering employees (for example, those working for constitutional officers). She suggested Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee members could decide whether to limit or expand the increase to nonclassified employees.

Representative (unspecified) asked for unanimous consent to accept the corrected letter. "You've heard the request. Is there an objection? Hearing none, it is so ordered," the chair announced on the record.

Why it matters: The corrected language determines how the CEC recommendation will be portrayed to the full legislature and affects how the committee's pay recommendations are interpreted and implemented if enacted. The clarification also narrows who the market-based IT and engineering increase applies to unless the legislature chooses to broaden it.

Ending: The committee accepted the corrected CEC recommendation letter by unanimous consent; staff said the corrected letter will be the version transmitted consistent with the committee's motion.