INTRODUCED
BY J. Dooling
By Request of the Office of Budget and Program Planning
A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT APPROPRIATING FUNDS TO IMPLEMENT PAY REVISIONS AND AN INCREASE IN THE LONGEVITY ALLOWANCE; REVISING THE LONGEVITY ALLOWANCE FOR EACH EMPLOYEE WHO HAS COMPLETED 25 YEARS OF UNINTERRUPTED STATE SERVICE BY 0.5% OF THE EMPLOYEE'S BASE SALARY; AMENDING SECTIONS 2-18-303 AND 2-18-304, MCA; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE."
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
Section 1. Section 2-18-303, MCA, is amended to read:
"2-18-303. Procedures for administering broadband pay plan. (1) On the first day of the first complete pay period in fiscal year 2020 2022, each employee is entitled to the amount of the employee's base salary as it was on June 30, 2019 2021.
(2) To the extent that the plan applies to employees within a collective bargaining unit, the implementation of the plan is a negotiable subject under 39-31-305.
(3) Effective
on the first day of the first complete pay period that includes January 1, 2020 November 15, 2022, the base salary of each employee must be increased by 50 cents 55 cents an
hour. Effective on the first day of
the first complete pay period that includes January 1, 2021, the base salary of
each employee must be increased by 50 cents an hour.
(4) (a) (i) A member of a bargaining unit may not receive the pay adjustment provided for in subsection (3) until the employer's collective bargaining representative receives written notice that the employee's collective bargaining unit has ratified a collective bargaining agreement.
(ii) If ratification of a collective bargaining agreement, as required by subsection (4)(a)(i), is not completed by the date on which a legislatively authorized pay increase is implemented, members of the bargaining unit must continue to receive the compensation that they were receiving until an agreement is ratified.
(b) Methods of administration consistent with the purpose of this part and necessary to properly implement the pay adjustments provided for in this section may be provided for in collective bargaining agreements.
(5) (a) Montana highway patrol officer base salaries must be established through the broadband pay plan. Before January 1 of each odd-numbered year, the department shall, after seeking the advice of the Montana highway patrol, conduct a salary survey to be used in establishing the base salary for existing and entry-level highway patrol officer positions. The county sheriff's offices in the following consolidated governments and counties are the labor market for purposes of the survey: Butte-Silver Bow, Cascade, Yellowstone, Missoula, Lewis and Clark, Gallatin, Flathead, and Dawson. The base salary for existing and entry-level highway patrol officer positions must then be determined by the department of justice, using the results of the salary survey and the department of justice pay plan guidelines. Base or biennial salary increases under this subsection are exclusive of and not in addition to any increases otherwise awarded to other state employees after July 1, 2006.
(b) To the extent that the plan applies to employees within a collective bargaining unit, the implementation of the plan is a negotiable subject under 39-31-305.
(c) The department of justice shall submit the salary survey to the office of budget and program planning as a part of the information required by 17-7-111.
(d) The salary survey and plan must be completed at least 6 months before the start of each regular legislative session."
Section 2. Section 2-18-304, MCA, is amended to read:
"2-18-304. Longevity allowance. (1) (a) In addition to the compensation provided for in 2-18-303, each employee who has completed 5 years of uninterrupted state service must receive 1.5% of the employee's base salary multiplied by the number of completed, contiguous 5-year periods of uninterrupted state service.
(b) In addition to the longevity allowance provided under subsection (1)(a), each employee who has completed 10 years of uninterrupted state service, 15 years of uninterrupted state service, or 20 years of uninterrupted state service, or 25 years of uninterrupted state service must receive an additional 0.5% of the employee's base salary for each of those additional 5 years of uninterrupted service.
(c) Service to the state is not interrupted by authorized leaves of absence.
(2) (a) For the purpose of determining years of service under this section, an employee must be credited with 1 year of service for each period of:
(i) 2,080 hours of service following the employee's date of employment; an employee must be credited with 80 hours of service for each biweekly pay period in which the employee is in a pay status or on an authorized leave of absence without pay, regardless of the number of hours of service in the pay period; or
(ii) 12 uninterrupted calendar months following the employee's date of employment in which the employee was in a pay status or on an authorized leave of absence without pay, regardless of the number of hours of service in any month. An employee of a school at a state institution or the university system must be credited with 1 year of service if the employee is employed for an entire academic year.
(b) State agencies, other than the university system and a school at a state institution, shall use the method provided in subsection (2)(a)(i) to calculate years of service under this section.
(3) For the purposes of calculating longevity, employment as a short-term worker does not apply toward years of service."
Section 3. Appropriations. (1) The following money for the indicated fiscal year is appropriated to the listed agencies to implement the adjustment provided in 2-18-303:
Fiscal Year 2023
General Fund State Special Federal Special Proprietary
Legislative Branch
$103,675 $18,986
Consumer Counsel
$4,886
Judicial Branch
$337,897 $11,336 $330
Executive Branch
$4,266,008 $3,413,362 $2,232,127 $80,515
Total
$4,707,580 $3,448,570 $2,232,457 $80,515
(2) The following money for the indicated fiscal years is appropriated to the listed agencies to implement the adjustment provided in 2-18-304:
Fiscal Year 2022
General Fund State Special Federal Special Proprietary
Legislative Branch
$6,934 $2,946
Consumer Counsel
$716
Judicial Branch
$5,661
Executive Branch
$171,858 $490,940 $340,704 $3,159
Montana University System
$42,622 $704
Total
$227,075 $494,602 $341,408 $3,159
Fiscal Year 2023
General Fund State Special Federal Special Proprietary
Legislative Branch
$6,934 $2,946
Consumer Counsel
$716
Judicial Branch
$5,661
Executive Branch
$171,858 $490,940 $340,704 $3,159
Montana University System
$42,622 $704
Total
$227,075 $494,602 $341,408 $3,159
(3) The following money for the indicated fiscal year is appropriated to the Montana university system for the sole purpose of increasing employee pay.
Fiscal Year 2023
General Fund State Special Federal Special Proprietary
Montana University System
$2,313,211 $431 $19,514
(4) The following money is appropriated for the biennium beginning July 1, 2021, to the office of budget and program planning from the designated state fund, to be distributed to agencies when personnel vacancies do not occur, retirement costs exceed agency resources, or other contingencies arise:
General Fund $1,000,000
State Special Revenue $500,000
Federal Special Revenue $250,000
Proprietary Funds $50,000
(5) For the biennium beginning July 1, 2021, there is appropriated $75,000 from the general fund to the department of administration for a labor-management training initiative.
(6) The total pay increase provided for in 2-18-303(3) may not be less than $10.4 million.
Section 4. Effective date. [This act] is effective July 1, 2021.