JFAC approves $177.4 million compensation package including $1.55-per-hour minimum and targeted increases for troopers, IT and nurses

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Feb. 6 approved a statewide compensation adjustment totaling $177,429,100 that provides a floor increase of $1.55 per hour for permanent state employees and includes targeted schedule and market adjustments for specific classifications.

Representative Miller moved the package and Senator Groves seconded. The motion directs pay increases between $1.05 and $1.55 per hour except in specific circumstances laid out in committee language. It also funds a $1.55-per-hour allocation to agencies and institutions (with community colleges calculated at an equivalent 5% level because community-college FTP data are not in the state database), a 4.5% adjustment for IT and engineering salary schedules, up to an 8% increase for Idaho State Police troopers, and a $1.55-per-hour or 3% increase for nursing and healthcare workers, whichever is greater. The motion includes $84,669,500 for public schools and the Idaho Educational Services for the Deaf and the Blind.

Budget staff provided the fiscal breakdown: $128,350,490 from the general fund, $34,266,900 from dedicated funds and $14,807,300 from federal funds, for a total of $177,429,100. Staff also said the motion requires agencies to report any use of existing resources to provide increases above the funded amounts and prohibits transfers of the new funding to non-personnel categories; the Division of Human Resources and the Office of the State Comptroller are directed to produce monthly reports on pay changes.

Several senators voiced concerns about compression in the salary schedule and the package’s adequacy for higher-paid employees. Senator Ward Engle King said the package does not address pay problems above about $64,000 and declined to support the motion; Senator Wintrow expressed similar concerns and also opposed final passage. Senator Cook and Senator Woodward said they supported the package while cautioning it could create compression or administrative limits on merit adjustments. Committee staff described the package as balancing a minimum cost-of-living increase with targeted market adjustments.

The clerk called the roll. The transcript records the clerk announcing, "the Senate votes 8 aye, 2 nay, 0 absent, and excused," and also records the House roll as reported in the transcript; the committee chair then announced the motion has passed and will carry a due-pass recommendation to the floor.

The language approved by the committee also shifts four salary schedules upward, requires reporting on salary savings and other pay changes, and includes provisions to limit reallocation of the newly provided personnel funds. Staff said the approved language will be included in the maintenance-bill package for floor debate.