Lawmakers approve pay raise for Missouri's state employees

Missouri state workers sit in the Truman Building atrium in this March 8, 2014 file photo.
Missouri state workers sit in the Truman Building atrium in this March 8, 2014 file photo.


State employees will soon see a boost to their paychecks thanks to a supplemental budget bill passed by Missouri lawmakers Wednesday.

HB 14 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 also ups 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 would also increase mileage rates for state employees by 10 cents to 65 cents a mile and increase lawmakers' monthly expense accounts.

The upper chamber passed the bill without amendments or much discussion Wednesday afternoon, sending it to the governor's desk ahead of his target date of March 1.

"Every department that has testified in front of our Appropriations Committee has talked about the struggle to keep, retain or recruit employees for those positions," said Springfield Republican Sen. Lincoln Hough, Appropriations Committee chairman and Senate handler for the bill. "There's a $2 an hour differential for some of those 24/7 facilities because we've seen that some of the hardest jobs recruit individuals for are those overnight 24/7 facilities in mental health, corrections, juvenile services, things like that.

"Hopefully the communication to our state workers is that we do value the work that you're doing, we don't take you for granted, and we're trying to make steps in the right direction to get you the compensation that you need."

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 29-4 with little floor discussion, though officials released statements praising the investment in a struggling state workforce, including Senate Minority Floor Leader Sen. John Rizzo.

"The dedicated public servants who keep our kids safe, care for our veterans, guard our prisons, fix out roads and do so much more deserve a raise," Rizzo said in a statement. "Missouri has the lowest paid state employees in the country. Our state cannot succeed if we do not invest in the people who make us successful."

House Minority Leader Rep. Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, previously said the raise was a start but did not go far enough to address mass vacancies and high turnover rates, urging her colleagues to look at other barriers including access to child care.

HB 14 made it through the House last week, passing after sponsor Rep. Cody Smith, a Carthage Republican and Hough's counterpart in the House, removed language that would have extended the pay raise to elected officials, including Parson and the General Assembly. Smith added a $628,750 investment in the Department of Agriculture's black vulture mitigation efforts after Hough said he had heard complaints about the scavengers causing trouble for Missouri farmers and vowing to stall the bill unless the issue was addressed.

The House passed the proposal by a vote of 151-2.

This is the second year in a row an emergency supplemental bill has been used to bolster the state's workforce following last session's 5.5 percent COLA and the setting of base wages above $15 an hour.

Even with that boost, state agencies report drastic staffing shortfalls. Marcia Mahaney, director of the Division of Administration for the Department of Health and Senior Services, told lawmakers Tuesday that turnover rates in her department have hit 24 percent with 240 positions sitting vacant.

State Budget Director Dan Haug reported the state's workforce faced an overall turnover rate exceeding 30 percent before a minimum pay hike and additional adjustments were implemented early last year, dropping to around 27 percent by the end of 2022.

HB 14 also includes a $20 million appropriation for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for school safety upgrades, including security infrastructure like door locks and monitoring systems, bleeding control kits and automatic external defibrillators. The package also features $275 million for the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to respond to natural disasters and $24 million to the Office of Administration to transfer funding for the State Retirement Contributions Fund.

It totals $627 million and is the first of two supplemental appropriation bills this session.

HB 14: Appropriation bill

https://bit.ly/3XDI2EP

Sponsor: Rep. Cody Smith