Missouri House debates state employee pay proposal

The Missouri House of Representatives approved a preliminary version of a bill that would raise wages for state employees, though some members of the lower chamber argued more needed to be done.

The House perfected HB 14, sponsored by House Budget Committee Chair Rep. Cody Smith, a Republican from Carthage, by a vote of 148-2. The bill is the legislative vessel for Gov. Mike Parson's supplemental budget proposal, which would implement an 8.7 percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) for all state employees -- with the exception of elected officials -- among other funding priorities.

The bill would also up the shift differential -- an extra bump in pay for those working outside of normal business hours -- for congregate care staff within the Department of Social Services (DSS), Department of Corrections (DOC), Department of Mental Health (DMH) and the Missouri Veterans Commission.

The bill still requires third reading and passage to move on to the Senate for the upper chamber's consideration.

The version set for a final House vote includes an amendment from Smith decreasing the overall dollar amount for a boost to lawmakers' expense accounts, though the other side of the aisle advocated for another amendment that failed to make it onboard.

Rep. Deb Lavender, a Democrat representing part of St. Louis County, proposed an amendment that would have added funds for the Division of Developmental Disabilities' community programs and the Division of Senior and Disability Services's consumer-directed personal care assistance services and its home and community-based services programs.

Lavender said the money would be redirected from the state's mental health reserve funds and serve to bolster a critical sector of the state's workforce that's experiencing a staffing crisis.

"We have a substantial amount of money that has come to this state through the pandemic, and I think it's time we can start using that money very appropriately to help increase salaries," she said. "I think as a body, it is appropriate for us to look at how much we have, why it's there, the balances we carry, and how we might be able to shake some of that loose to be able to help the people in Missouri."

Smith ultimately encouraged the body to vote the amendment down, arguing it would not present a permanent solution to staffing issues.

"I cannot support making increases to ongoing programs with one-time funds without a plan to come back and pay for that in an ongoing way," he said. "I think we need to have these conversations leading into the next budget cycle. And even if we do take some of these dollars and pay for those rates in the short term, we need to be aware and agree that we will come back with ongoing revenue to support those increases year after year."

Even after the amendment failed, Democrats in the House called for pay increases for specific sectors that provide health and mental health services, an issue that also came up during the bill's debate in the House Budget Committee earlier this week. Springfield Democrat Rep. Betsy Fogle reiterated the need for the General Assembly to look at additional pay raises for front-line care workers, and Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern told her colleagues the impact of a strained state workforce had affected her community recently.

Nurrenbern told the story of two children under five years old in her district in Kansas City who had been in the care of the state and had then been returned to their mother. One was found dead last week, while the other girl was found starving and was carried out by paramedics. Nurrenbern said investing in the state employees that handle such issues wouldn't just fill jobs, it would save lives.

"When we look at our state budget, behind all those numbers behind the pages of HB 14, what I see are the people we are serving. When we talk about the 8.7 percent pay increase across the board, every single department greatly needs this," Nurrenbern said. "But we have been sounding the alarm for years that we are not doing enough to protect the most vulnerable."

"We keep putting more on them," she continued. "And it's so alarming when we say we know that there are kids in this state right now that are starving. There are kids in this state right now that are sometimes hidden in plain sight, and they are crying out for help. They are crying out for those Children's Division workers to come visit them and be their lifeline."

While the state workforce is most prominent here in its capital, Nurrenbern noted there were state employees in every district in Missouri providing similarly important services and encouraged her colleagues to reach out and gauge their needs.

Parson requested the legislative package ahead of this year's State of the State address, calling on lawmakers to pass it along to his desk by March 1 to put the increase into effect quickly. It must still make its way through the Senate to get there.