Legislation
|May 4, 2023
Testify in support of LD 1854, the compensation and classification bill
Executive Branch members! Thanks to your advocacy last week, we secured commitments from over 100 state legislators to sign on as cosponsors of LD 1854, An Act to Complete and Implement the Comprehensive Review of the Classification and Compensation for Executive Branch Employees, sponsored by Representative Drew Gattine. Their sign-on as cosponsors doesn’t ensure their final vote in support, so we must keep the pressure on!
LD 1854 would require the State to finish the state employee classification and compensation study and implement its results by July 1, 2024. Specifically, LD 1854 would require the State to:
- Perform a compensation study every two years;
- Conduct a comprehensive classification review every 10 years;
- Complete and implement the results of the current classification and compensation studies by July 1, 2024. To ensure accountability, LD 1854 would require the State to give a 5% across-the-board pay increase to all state workers if it fails to complete the study and fix the pay gap by that date.
- Establish a State Employee Compensation Stabilization Fund to help fund closing the state employee pay gap. The stabilization fund would be part of the State’s official cascade for the distribution of unappropriated General Fund surpluses.
The next step for LD 1854 is a public hearing, which has been scheduled for Friday, May 12th at 9:35am in Cross Office Building room 214. We need you to testify in person, over Zoom or in writing in support of LD 1854. Member stories matter about the pay gap. Legislators need to hear how you and your coworkers are impacted by low wages and recruitment and retention issues. The more we tell our stories, the greater the likelihood that LD 1854 gets passed and funded! Here’s an explanation of what LD 1854 is all about with some background information to help with your testimony and conversations with legislators.
Let Beth White on our MSEA-SEIU staff know right away if you can testify; email beth (dot) white@mseaseiu.org call 207-622-3151. She can help you with drafting testimony, proofreading, and hearing signup. Check out our guide to testifying on LD 1854 at this link; it has all of the information you need to testify!
In Solidarity,
Dean Staffieri
President, MSEA-SEIU Local 1989