Joint committee deadlocks on change-in-employee-compensation proposals; multiple CEC motions fail

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee considered four competing change‑in‑employee‑compensation (CEC) proposals Friday, Jan. 31, but failed to approve any of them after extended debate and multiple roll calls.

Analysts outlined four packaged CEC options for fiscal 2026: a dollar‑per‑hour approach that equates to $1.55 per hour per FTE and related adjustments for colleges and public schools (Motion 1); a variation that included a $1.55 floor plus a minimum 3% increase for all state employees up to a salary breakpoint (Representative Furness’s substitute, Motion 2); a merit‑based approach providing up to 4% on merit (Senator Cook’s motion, Motion 3); and the governor’s proposal that equates to an average 5% increase distributed on merit (Motion 4).

Representative Miller moved Motion 1, the $1.55 per hour across‑the‑board package, which was presented in the committee packet as totaling $177,429,000 across fund sources. Senator Cook moved the merit‑based option that would provide up to 4% on the basis of merit. Several members described the motions’ differences: the dollar‑per‑hour approach guarantees a minimum across the pay scale, while the merit options prioritize pay increases tied to performance.

Committee debate covered multiple substantive points: whether to prioritize lower‑paid employees, whether merit pay better attracts and retains staff, how the packages apply to IT and engineering staff, whether public school funding should be aligned with state employees in the package, and whether additional funding for Idaho State Police troopers and healthcare workers was included or excluded in particular motions. Representative Handy and Senator Cook voiced competing views about equity and merit; Handy said his supervisors’ experience shows broad self‑assessment of high performance among staff, while Cook argued for merit as a principle for attracting and rewarding top performers.

Representative Furness offered a substitute (Motion 2) that included the $1.55 per hour base and an added $611,500 to guarantee a minimum 3% increase for all state employees below a specified salary breakpoint; Representative Galloway seconded that substitute. That substitute was called for a roll and ultimately failed to achieve the majority needed in the House component of this joint committee procedure.

The committee then attempted the original and other motions in several sequences. At later roll calls the committee again failed to approve the governor’s 5% motion and the dollar‑per‑hour or merit‑based alternatives. Committee members repeatedly cited the complexity of on‑the‑fly calculations for multi‑component motions and the need to avoid downstream numeric errors when altering package elements not in the printed packet.

Why it matters: the CEC package affects base pay for state employees, funding for community colleges and public schools, parity adjustments (including for troopers and certain categories such as IT/engineers), and the distribution method (flat dollar, percent, and/or merit). Failure to adopt a package leaves the employer‑side pay adjustments unresolved and delays how agencies will budget for employee compensation in FY2026.

Votes and next steps: No CEC motion achieved the required support during the Jan. 31 session. The chair said the committee will "go back to the drawing board" and reschedule the affected agency budget hearings; members acknowledged they may need further numeric work and leadership guidance on voting procedure before returning to the issue.

Selected quotes: Senator Cook in favor of merit: "what America was built on was built on merit." Representative Handy on the difficulty of applying merit in practice: "I asked everybody to put if they thought they were in the top 10% of the performers. And, 95% of my guys thought they were in the 10% of performance." Mr. Bybee summarized the methodology behind the four motions and the packet calculations for colleges, community colleges and agency pay groups.