The Alaska Legislature has voted unanimously to block increases for the governor of the state as well as the lieutenant governor. commissioners who oversee department heads of the state.
The state House approved a vote of 40-0 on Monday night to pass Senate bill 86 that blocks the increase from taking the state. Senate Bill 86 was approved Senate passed the measure 19-1 (Sen. Robb Myers, North Pole, R-Sen. Robb Myers was excused from the vote) on February. 27.
When the bill is passed to Governor. Mike Dunleavy, the governor has until March 23 to either sign the bill or either veto it or let the bill to become law with his absence.
The bill was first introduced by state Senate following the State Officers Compensation Commission -which is tasked by law with determining the salary of the state’s most powerful representatives, elected or non-electedand suggested raises for the highest-ranking members of the executive branch.
These increases were meant to be a way to account to account for inflation, however some legislators argued that the raises were unsuitable and introduced legislation to stop the raises.
The compensation commission was unable to propose changes to the legislative pay, which suggests that more analysis is required. Additionally it is reported that the Alaska Department of Administration has offered a state-wide analysis of all state salary.
In a press conference last in the month of March, Senate Chairman Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak., stated that the salary commission had failed to address issues with compensation and that salaries paid by the state for the top positions are low.
The following day, the president announced that he was working on legislation to manually adjust the pay of executives in the top executive branch.
“The fact is, we must fairly compensate people , or they’re going to take an occupation that pays very well in order to serve this state.” He said.
Prior Beacon reporting which showed that the governor is paid less than the other 861 state employees.
The Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla said that, even when the Senate approves a salary bill however, the House may view the issue differently.
“I believe there’s a divergence in opinion about that,” Tilton said when asked about the next step.
The caucus she’s in isn’t able to come together to come up with a united policy on salary adjustments.
The story was originally published within the Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
