Missouri state employees will see pay bump under bill headed to Gov. Parson’s desk

The Missouri Senate on Wednesday sent to Republican Gov. Mike Parson’s desk a supplemental budget bill that would give all state employees an 8.7% raise.

The budget, which passed 29-4, was a priority for Parson this session. The governor had asked lawmakers to approve the request in time for workers to see the pay increase by the end of March.

Parson has touted the $627 million plan as necessary to fill the more than 7,000 open positions in state government. The budget also provides a $2 per hour shift differential for certain employees who work in congregate care facilities on overnight shifts.

“There is no question that the recruitment and retention of state employees have been a severe problem for our state and we must do better,” Parson said last month.

Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, an Independence Democrat, on Wednesday said state employees needed the raise.

“Our state cannot succeed if we do not invest in the people who make us successful,” he said.

Unlike an early previous version of the plan, the pay increase does not apply to statewide elected officials, lawmakers or judges.

State lawmakers have highlighted the recruitment and retention of state employees as a severe problem. While most lawmakers supported Parson’s plan, some said it didn’t go far enough.

“A couple of years of modest improvement simply isn’t enough to overcome decades of shortchanging state workers with annual raises that ranged from miniscule to the non-existent,” House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat, said earlier this month.