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Senate Moves to Survey Law Enforcement Salaries Without Benefit Comparisons
Summary
Senate advanced SB 40 to remove benefit-package comparisons from salary surveys for law enforcement, corrections and dispatchers, citing recruitment and retention concerns; supporters said salaries should be compared like other agencies and counties.
The Utah Senate advanced SB 40 on Jan. 28, 2003, a bill to limit salary surveys for three public-safety categories to base pay and to remove a mandatory benefit-package comparison. Sponsor Sen. Curtis Dimitrich said the measure would start July 1 and align the surveys with other state surveys that focus on base salary rather than benefits.
Supporters, including troopers who testified in committee, argued the change would help address recruitment and retention problems and allow lawmakers to identify base-salary disparities that cause employees to leave for county jobs. Opponents and questioners raised concerns that excluding benefits might obscure total compensation and could prompt trade-offs between wages and benefits.
Senators discussed whether removing benefits from the survey could shift emphasis away from total compensation, and whether the Legislature could still act on pay-plan adjustments once the surveys were complete. The bill was advanced to the third‑reading calendar with no fiscal note reported on the floor.
Senators urging support included Sen. Butters and Sen. Walker, who described firsthand testimony from troopers and the need to treat law enforcement consistently with other surveyed groups. The Senate voted to place SB 40 on third reading.
