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Bills to Limit State Employee Bonuses Fail

By Beacon Staff

HELENA – Three bills that sought to limit the timing and amount of state employee bonuses have been tabled in a House committee.

Two of the bills were aimed at preventing statewide elected officials from giving bonuses to their political appointed staff members as they sought re-election or as they were about to leave office, while a third would have put a $1,000 annual cap on bonus payments to any state employee.

The House State Administration Committee tabled the three bills late Thursday.

House Bill 358, by House Speaker Bob Bergren, D-Havre, would have prohibited a statewide elected official from paying bonuses to political appointees between Election Day and when the elected officials’ term expires.

The bill was aimed at former Secretary of State Brad Johnson’s authorization of nearly $58,000 in bonuses to be paid to nine political appointees once he left office. The individual performance awards ranged from $3,502 to $8,755.

Democratic Secretary of State Linda McCulloch, who defeated Johnson, learned of the planned bonuses and halted the checks after the Department of Administration found they were illegal.

Rep. Wendy Warburton, R-Havre, proposed House Bill 576, which would prohibit any statewide elected official from giving bonuses to political appointees for the fiscal year, or as she preferred, the calendar year, when the official is seeking re-election or election to another office. Her bill was aimed at stopping situations like Johnson’s as well as bonus payments made earlier last year by former state Auditor John Morrison and former Attorney General Mike McGrath.

House Bill 594, by Rep. Chuck Hunter, D-Helena, would have limited any bonuses to no more than $1,000 a year for employees of any state agency.

House State Administration Chairman Dennis Himmelberger, R-Billings, asked panel members to consider seeking an interim study after the bills were tabled.

“Once you start looking at it, you had more questions coming up,” Himmelberger said. “The committee members were not comfortable they were at the point where they could move something out of the committee.”

Bergren said he was disappointed the committee didn’t act on what he considered a clear-cut issue.

“It’s not an issue that needs a study, a commission, a panel, or any other kind of political foot-dragging,” he said.