The House is working on the state budget this afternoon, including state employee benefits. The great news is that health insurance costs will not be going up as much as health care inflation in other areas of the economy. The decent new is that there’s only a pay raise of $500 per employee.

This is not enough, but I’m not one to make the perfect the enemy of the good. It’s still a step in the right direction after state employees went five years between raises until we secured one in last year’s budget.

The following are the prepared remarks I made on the floor:

Mr. Speaker, as you and other members of this body are aware Missouri state employees rank 50th out of 50 in state employee pay. This budget includes a pay raise of $500 per employee. This is a step in the right direction, but, in my opinion, it’s not enough.

Over the last five years, the governor has cut thousands of state employee jobs. Some of these were justified, others not. But regardless of the propriety of any of these cuts, one thing is undeniably true: state employees are being asked to do more, but not being compensated accordingly for it.

Mr. Speaker, Missouri is not New York. It’s not California and thank God it’s not Illinois. We don’t need and in fact should not be one of the nation’s top-paying states because our cost-of-living just isn’t that high. But we shouldn’t be ranked below Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas and every other state in the country. We should be closer to where we are in national cost-of-living standards.

This budget keeps us moving forward. One-quarter glass of water is much better than on water at all. On behalf of 5,000+ state employees who I represent, I thank the Budget Committee for this quarter glass. But it’s my great hope that we can build on this in this budget and in future years to get state employee pay out of the national cellar. 

Gov. Nixon has proposed a “two-percent” raise for state employees which starts mid-way through the year. I’m encouraged that the proposed budget includes this pay raise. Of course I’d like such a raise to start at the beginning of the fiscal year. I’d also like it to be larger than the two percent for half-a-year which was identical to his proposal last year. State employees are dead last in pay and need a few years with more than a mere cost-of-living increase. However, any step in the right direction is a step I support.   

I filed HB 200 this morning to protect the First Amendment rights of state employees by explicitly allowing state employees to voluntarily participate in political activities, and, just as important, run for partisan political office. 

In particular, the bill amends §36.150 to state that (1) the prohibition against solicitation of financial assistance from state employees as a condition of employment shall not be interpreted to prevent a state employee from”voluntarily engaging in any political activity during non-working hours” and (2) to delete the section which requires a state employee to resign or obtain a leave of absence in order to be a candidate for nomination to partisan political office. 

I’m filing this because state employees shouldn’t be forced to abandon their rights to political activity, including running for office, in non-work hours just because they’re a state employee. 

I’m honored that the largest organization of state employees in Missouri has endorsed my campaign for re-election. For the past two years, I’ve worked hard for state employees. This year I worked to double the pay increase proposed by Governor Nixon – a raise which was overdue and well-deserved. It had been five years since the previous raise. The raise means approximately $15 million in new salaries for state employees in the Jefferson City area. I realize, of course, that it’s not enough. And I’m committed to fighting for additional pay raises every single year. We have to get out of our last-in-the-nation ranking for state employee pay. 

The text of the press release from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees is pasted below:

AFSCME Council 72 Endorses Jay Barnes for State Representative

Jefferson City, MO – The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 72 today endorsed Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) in his re-election for Missouri House of Representatives District 60. Throughout his tenure in the House, Rep. Barnes has consistently shown a record of strong support for state employees and the issues that are important to them.

“Rep. Barnes has shown an unwavering commitment to state employees and the critical services we provide. AFSCME members are confident in Rep. Barnes’ leadership and look forward to working with him in the Missouri House,” said Scott Sapp, President of AFSCME Local 1764 in Jefferson City. “Rep. Barnes clearly knows the hard work and dedication public workers put into their jobs and will continue to work for us in the legislature.” 

As a lifelong resident of Jefferson City, Jay also understands the important role state employees play in the local economy. He understands that in order to get our economy back on track, central Missouri has to have an effective, thriving state workforce. 

Yesterday brought good news for state employees. MCHCP announced it would re-invest funds from reserves to ensure that state employees would not suffer from increased health care premium costs this year. 

In a time of rising health care costs everywhere else, it’s great news for state employees that premiums will not be increased. I support the Board’s effort to re-invest an actuarially safe amount from reserves to ensure state employees don’t lose income through increased health care costs.

The Post-Dispatch reports on state employee wages set to increase July 1. My pull-quote:

Pay will still lag a couple thousand dollars behind the averages for South Carolina and Arkansas, and state workers in Kansas and Illinois will continue to make significantly higher than their counterparts here.

 

“It’s not enough, but in this budget climate, that’s probably the most we could have gotten,” said Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City. “We’ve got to keep moving the ball toward higher salaries.”….

 

Like Kehoe, Barnes also served on the committee to review state worker pay last year. He said that workers face other issues, including the fact that they are taking home less pay because of changes to their state pensions and health insurance.

The Senate passed the complete budget this afternoon. And its now official – state employees making up to $70,000 will get a well-deserved two-percent pay hike. In total, these pay raises will lead to nearly $15 million in increased income for state employees in Cole County.