Committee presses Office of Collective Bargaining, Division of Personnel on vacancies, backlogs and retro pay during FY26 budget hearing

Legislators on the Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance pressed the Office of Collective Bargaining (OCB) and the Division of Personnel about staffing levels, vacant-position funding and a backlog of unresolved cases during a fiscal 2026 budget hearing.

The committee heard that OCB requested a FY26 operating budget of $1,263,391 and that the Division of Personnel sought just over $63,300,000 to run human-resources functions for the government. Committee members focused most of their questions on the number of vacant positions, retroactive pay calculations and OCB's capacity to negotiate outstanding contracts.

Why it matters: committee members said the combination of many expired contracts, a large number of pending arbitration or grievance cases and budgeted but unfilled positions creates fiscal uncertainty and potential for repeated retroactive payments to employees. Lawmakers pressed agency leaders for clearer broken-out accounting of vacant positions and their fringe costs and for steps to reduce negotiation backlogs.

Key facts and exchanges

- Staffing and vacancies: Director Richardson (Division of Personnel) told senators the government employs 5,887 people and that the reported average salary is $55,219. Committee members asked for and received a breakout of vacant-position salary totals: an…