Brief (1)
SB 656, as recommended by the Senate Committee, concerns salaries and compensation for state officers and employees.
Section 1 authorizes the Governor and each elected state official of the executive branch of state government (including the State Board of Education, the State Board of Regents, the Board of Trustees of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, Kansas, Inc., and the Board of Directors of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation) to provide salary increases for employees in the unclassified service, to be distributed on a merit basis, not to exceed 2.5 percent of the employees' base salaries.
Section 2(a) appropriates $20,526,201 from the State General Fund to the State Finance Council to fund the State General Fund's proportionate share of the Governor's recommended pay plan (a 2.5 percent step movement for classified employees, longevity bonus payments, and a 2.5 percent unclassified merit pool).
Section 2(b) delegates authority to the State Finance Council to approve the transfer of moneys from the State Finance Council to the appropriate State General Fund accounts of each affected agency. Section 2(c) authorizes the State Finance Council to increase the expenditure limitations on special revenue funds to reflect pay plan expenditures. Section 2(d) directs each affected state agency to prepare and submit a budget estimate for the salary increases and longevity bonus payments to the Division of the Budget and the Legislative Research Department.
Sections 3 through 5 of the bill appropriate funding totaling $336,484 from the State General Fund to the Legislative Coordinating Council, the Legislature, and Division of Post Audit for the pay plan recommended by the Governor.
Sections 6 and 7 appropriate funding totaling $2,285,715 from the State General Fund to the Judicial Council and the Judicial Branch for the Governor's recommended pay plan adjustments.
Section 8 and Sections 11 through 15 would amend current law to specify the biweekly pay rate for statewide elected officials effective the first day of the first payroll period chargeable to state fiscal year 2001, including: the Governor (Section 11); Lieutenant Governor (Section 12); the Secretary of State (Section 13); the State Treasurer (Section 14); the Attorney General (Section 15); and the Commissioner of Insurance (Section 8).
Section 16 would provide that the salaries of the elected officials listed above be increased by the same average percentage increase in all steps of the pay plan approved for persons in the classified service under the Kansas Civil Service Act chargeable to payroll periods commencing after June 30, 2001.
Section 9 of the bill would provide the same increases noted above for legislative service pay, and Section 10 would provide the same percentage increases for persons holding legislative leadership offices. Section 9(e) would provide that legislative salaries be increased by the same average percentage increase in all steps of the pay plan approved for persons in the classified service under the Kansas Civil Service Act chargeable to payroll periods commencing after June 30, 2001. (Staff Note: Because the substantive law regarding elected state officials was not amended by the 1999 Legislature, the statutory changes reflect the cumulative approved increases for FY 2000 and FY 2001. However, such increase for FY 2000 was granted through the appropriations bill. If the substantive bill is not enacted and no increase is granted in the appropriations bill, legislative per diem pay would revert to the $72.06 per day authorized for FY 1999.)
Background
Funding for the Governor's recommended pay plan adjustments was included in the introduced versions of the FY 2001 appropriations bills, but has been deleted by the Senate Committee in 2000 SB 639.
The total estimated cost of the Governor's recommended FY 2001 pay plan adjustments is $44.9 million, including $23.1 million from the State General Fund.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html