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Idaho parole commission seeks pay increase as members report heavy unpaid preparation time
Summary
The Commission of Pardons and Parole requested statutory authority and funding to raise commissioner pay from $300 to $400 per hearing day, citing uncompensated preparation time and recruiting challenges; the commission also requested laptops and noted significant upcoming turnover.
The Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole asked the Joint Finance Preparations Committee on Feb. 4 for authorization and funding to raise commissioner pay from $300 to $400 per hearing day, saying unpaid preparation time and recruitment difficulties are driving departures.
Noah Peterson, legislative budget analyst, said the commission requested the increase and that it would require an amendment to Idaho Code (the agency referenced section 20‑1002). Peterson said commissioners last received a pay increase in 2017 when pay moved from $200 to $300; commissioners delivered 5,907 decisions in 2017 and 6,670 decisions in fiscal 2024.
Executive Director Christine Starr told the committee she has served as executive director for a little over three months and that she expects to lose more than half of the commission by December. Starr said commissioners are appointed by the governor for three‑year terms and are only paid for hearing days under current statute. She described the unpaid workload: commissioners typically have five hearing days per week with about 23 hearings per hearing day and roughly 40 pages of material attached to each hearing; Starr estimated commissioners perform about 26 hours of preparation time for a five‑day hearing week (about 3.25 days of unpaid prep time).
Starr described the requested pay increase as a partial remedy. "I see this request to increase the commissioner's pay as honestly more of a band aid to a much, much larger, issue," she told the committee, and said she will review commission processes and consider models used in other states to ensure adequate decision‑making capacity, transparency and training.
The commission also requested nine laptops (total $12,600) as replacement items recommended by the Office of Information Technology Services. The governor recommended funding for the pay increase at $59,300 assuming the necessary statutory change and recommended the OITS replacement items.
The committee did not take a vote at the hearing. Staff said they would provide additional background on commissioner workloads and potential models for commission structure and compensation.
