Pension-padding ban clears Senate committee

The Senate Commerce & Human Resources Committee was so enthusiastic about HB 604 this afternoon - the bill to ban pension-padding retirement bonuses like those paid to three state employees in the past year, including the retiring state human resources director - that the panel not only passed the bill unanimously, it sent it to the Senate’s “consent calendar,” which is reserved for bills with wide support that need little debate and will all be passed in a single vote. HB 604, sponsored by Reps. Anne Pasley-Stuart, D-Boise; Elfreda Higgins, D-Garden City; and Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, and endorsed by GOP Gov. Butch Otter, earlier passed the House on a unanimous, 64-0 vote. The Otter Administration said while it had given the bonuses in the past, it no longer felt they were a good use of taxpayer dollars, particularly with the state’s tight budget.