The Senate has approved a compromise pay plan for state workers for the next two years.
It comes after a series of conference committee meetings – and it means a number of budget bills that have the single issue of the pay plan as a sticking point will start moving through the process.
The plan is a “four and three” plan – with money set aside for market pay issues. It also increases the retirement contribution in the first year of the biennium – but makes no change for the second year.
The Senate had been sticking with the Governor’s “four and four” plan – while the House had been pushing for a “three and three.”
"I think, at the end of the day, we weren't cheering," said Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Ray Holmberg (R-Grand Forks). "There were some things we would have liked to have done differently. But perfection is the purview of God, and we just do the best we can. And this is about the bext we could do."
The pay plan language is contained in the Office of Management and Budget spending bill. That bill is traditionally the last bill the Legislature passes to end the session.
