Oklahoma House Approves Bill Capping Some State Employee Raises

The Oklahoma House has approved a measure that would put a cap on raises and bonuses for some state employees, sending the bill to the Oklahoma Senate for consideration.

Authored by Rep. Dick Lowe, House Bill 3024 would limit executive branch employees’ pay increases and bonuses at 10% of their base salary, “barring a substantial title or responsibility change or a performance review,” Oklahoma Voice recently reported.

The legislation exempts certain employees, such as agency directors or CEOs; employees of “non-appropriated agencies;” positions that require advanced degrees, licensing or accreditation; and higher education, school district and career technology district employees, according to Oklahoma Voice.

“We saw some agencies last year give tremendously big raises or bonuses, and we found out about it in the newspaper,” Lowe told the publication. “That’s not the way it’s supposed to work.”

While noting that the bill does not stop state employees from receiving raises and bonuses, Lowe said that any increase exceeding the 10% cap would have to go through the Office of Management and Enterprise Services and would require Cabinet secretary approval.

Agency heads are excluded because their salaries are not set by Oklahoma legislators, but by the governor or a board of directors, he added. The “non-appropriated agencies” the House bill omitted would include organizations such as the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, as they must hire employees with certain degrees or accreditations.

“I think the public deserves to know what’s going on, and not backdoor, behind the scenes, just money going out,” Lowe said.

“We saw one agency with salaries that were probably two or three times what they ought to be, or just before somebody leaves getting a $40,000 bonus. That’s not good use of taxpayers’ money.”