DPSOA Legislative Update – 5/19/2009: Pay Raise for Schedule C Commissioned Officers On the Way!

Good news came as the Conference Committee adopted Senate Bill 1 which included a significant pay raise for Schedule C employees.  The package, totaling $24.4 million for the biennium, came about despite two weeks of dire forecasts of a $1 billion projected shortfall in the general revenue budget (due to Medicaid shortfalls) and warnings that all pending legislative spending was on the block. Although the salary package is roughly half of what we were striving for, this is a significant increase for our Schedule C members, particularly considering the reality of today’s strained economic environment. The bill still needs to be voted on by the full legislature, but that should be routine since it is an agreed upon bill.  

SB 1 Schedule C Salary Package

There are only 13 more days left in the 81st Legislative Session, but there is still a lot of work to be done.  DPSOA will continue to work on bills important to our Membership and push for additional compensation and benefits.  While I don’t have anything specific to report, DPSOA also continues to work for our retiree’s issues and for our non-commissioned member’s issues.

Brian Hawthorne
President, DPSOA