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House approves pay increases for state employees and higher education with narrow discretionary funding
Summary
The House passed Senate Bill 228 allocating a 3.5% cost-of-living increase and 1.5% discretionary compensation pool for state agency and higher education employees after defeating an amendment that would have raised COLA to 4% and cut discretionary funds to 1%. Debate focused on retention, parity with education funding, and executive discretion.
Representative Bigelow, floor sponsor for Senate Bill 228, described the bill as a compensation package for state employees and higher education that includes a 3.5% cost-of-living adjustment and a 1.5% discretionary compensation fund. He listed specific increases for judges and certain law-enforcement and corrections positions and said the measure covers health insurance premiums for state employees.
Representative Allen moved an amendment to increase the COLA to 4% and reduce discretionary funding to 1%. Supporters of the amendment, including Representative Holdaway and Representative Brown, argued a higher COLA and a smaller discretion pool better matched higher-education requests and fairness concerns. Opponents, including Representative Dougal and Representative D., argued that the discretionary portion is critical for rewarding high performers and retaining key employees and that raising the universal COLA would remove managerial flexibility. The motion to amend failed after a recorded division.
After further floor motions (including a previous-question motion to end debate), the House approved Senate Bill 228 by recorded vote: 67 yes, 3 no, with 5 absent. The bill will be signed by the Speaker and transmitted back to the Senate.
