HOUSE PASSES STATE EMPLOYEE PAY BILL

The North Dakota House of Representatives today unanimously passed a pay package for state employees which includes a four percent raise in each of the next two years. The state employee pay bill also includes a $10 million equity pool which will be used to further increase salaries for state employees in positions where pay is behind the market rate for their position.“There are state employees on the job 24 hours a day 7 days a week serving the people of North Dakota,” said

Rep. Todd Porter (R – Mandan). “We want to let all of our state employees know how much we appreciate their hard work by putting them first this session.”SB 2189 also fully funded state employee health insurance premiums for the biennium. Projected premiums for state employee health insurance have risen 18.8 percent over levels in the current biennium.

Rep. Dave Weiler (R – Bismarck) said, “When budgets are tight, our state employees often have to wait until the end of the session to find out what their raises may be, or if they will continue to receive fully funded health insurance. This time our employees know right-off-the-bat that they are going to share in the success that our state is seeing as a whole.”

Sponsors of the state employee pay bill include Reps. Weiler, Porter and Lois Delmore (D – Grand Forks) and Sens. Dave Nething (R – Jamestown), Dick Dever (R – Bismarck) and Larry Robinson (D – Valley City). The bill is based on pay and equity levels that Gov. Hoeven included in his executive budget. The will now be sent to the Governor’s desk for his signature.-30-