Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how extensive surveys from the state's expert contractors show state employee compensation still lags far behind the market, but some lawmakers are questioning the data. It matters because state law requires that the state pay…
Jani Revier, budget director for Gov. Butch Otter, told the Legislature’s joint CEC Committee, “We’re holding our own in relation to other employers. The governor hopes that you will join him in recommending another 3 percent CEC, so that we do not lose ground” as…
Several lawmakers on the joint CEC Committee are raising questions about the data in the comparative salary surveys completed by the state’s consultants. Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, complained that the “Idaho-centric” Milliman custom survey included five state governments, those of the surrounding states. He requested...
After hearing about the two different salary surveys included in this year’s state CEC Report on state employee compensation, Sen. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, said he had a question. “Are we below, at or above market?” State Human Resources Director Susan Buxton responded, “We are below…
Malinda Riley, a senior principal with Hay Group Korn Ferry, told the Legislature’s CEC Committee that her firm has been conducting surveys to compare Idaho state salaries to market rates for many years; she’s been on the team since 2012. “It’s an in-depth look at…
The Legislature’s joint Change in Employee Compensation (CEC) Committee has convened in the Lincoln Auditorium for the first of three meetings over the course of the next week; it heard first from state Human Resources Administrator Susan Buxton, who is presenting the annual CEC Report.…
In an effort to combat human trafficking, House Assistant Majority Leader Brent Crane, R-Nampa, said today he’ll introduce legislation making a first-time offense of soliciting prostitution a felony. Currently, that’s a misdemeanor in Idaho until the third offense. “There are individuals that are being trafficked…
A state fund that helps keep phone landlines affordable for rural Idaho residents is losing revenue as more people switch to cellphones. The Idaho Statesman reports the Idaho Public Utilities Commission is figuring out how to keep the state fund solvent as it loses revenue that's acquired by surcharges on landline bills...
At the request of House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, the House Revenue & Taxation Committee voted unanimously this morning – with no discussion – to introduce legislation to cut state unemployment insurance taxes that are paid by Idaho employers. The change, which would save employers…
As required by a law that passed last year, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning held a special hearing on the Public Education Stabilization Fund, the rainy-day fund for schools, to consider transferring more money into it to make up for withdrawals made over the…
The Legislature’s joint Change in Employee Compensation, or CEC Committee, will meet this afternoon at 2:30 in the Lincoln Auditorium, but it won’t be taking public testimony from state employees as it has in the past. Instead, the committee has invited written testimony to be...
Raul Labrador and three other Republicans are introducing a bill that would let some undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children stay for another three years, while also passing a host of other immigration-related measures Republicans have been discussing, including a $30 billion wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and cutting legal...
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
