Committee debate questions a proposed 1% in House Bill 2, cites recent raises and benefit costs

An unidentified committee member argued during the meeting that a proposed 1% pay increase in House Bill 2 would be inconsistent with recent pay and benefit increases, and cited figures presented to the committee.

The speaker said, "over the past 5 years, in pay increases, we've done 20% in 5 years for the amount of 1,320,000,000 in pay increases," and added that employee health-care changes (including an "80/20" arrangement and full coverage for employees earning under $50,000) cost "$184,000,000 a year," while employer pension costs were "$116,000,000 a year," which the speaker summarized as "a total of 1,600,000,000.0 over the last 4 years for pay increases and health care benefits."

The speaker said those cumulative costs — including about "$1,300,000,000" in raises and roughly "$300,000,000" in health-care and pension costs, as described — informed the view that adding a further 1% increase "just did not make sense" given other funding priorities such as child care and teacher-related requirements. The speaker also asserted, "We've taken care of [state employees] very well."

No formal motion or vote on House Bill 2 was recorded in the transcript. A committee member later asked about timing for a separate bill related to a university fund; the chair said timing was not yet known.