| TO: | Honorable Rodney Ellis, Chair, Senate Committee on Government Organization |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB1345 by Van de Putte (Relating to the amount of emergency leave granted by state agencies to state employees on unpaid military leave.), As Introduced |
The bill would require state agencies to grant emergency leave to state employees on unpaid military leave, when the employees’ military pay is less than the employees’ gross state pay. The emergency leave would result in employees receiving payment for the difference between military and state pay (differential pay).
The bill would require the State Auditor to adopt guidelines (not later than December 1, 2005) to assist state agencies in determining the amount of emergency leave to grant to an employee as differential pay. The State Auditor’s Office currently has guidelines on emergency leave for differential pay on the Human Resources portion of its website. The cost for the State Auditor’s Office to update these guidelines for the changes mandated by the bill is not significant.
Statewide, it is estimated that the maximum amount that the bill would exclude from the military pay calculations for an individual state employee on unpaid military leave would be approximately $700 per month ($150 for combat zone; $300 for hardship; and $250 for separation from family). Assuming that 500 state employees would be on military leave each year, the additional statewide cost would be $4.2 million each fiscal year ($8.4 million for the biennium) out of all funds. It is expected that no one agency would be significantly affected by implemetation of the bill.
| Source Agencies: | 308 State Auditor's Office
|
| LBB Staff: | JOB, LB, MS
|