With North Carolina government agencies still facing staffing shortages well above average, a new proposal to make it easier to recruit and retain employees within state government passed a key state Senate committee Tuesday.
The effects of state government staffing shortages ripple through many areas of life in North Carolina.
The high number of vacancies can also create extra costs, not just skyrocketing overtime costs, as some agencies hire private contractors to do work at a higher cost than it would cost if the state had enough staff.
The vote on House Bill 223 passed easily Tuesday with no opposition.
The bill was passed unanimously by the state House of Representatives over a year ago but has been considered for the first time in the state Senate.
What's in this bill?
Increased flexibility is a major theme of the bill that passed out of committee on Tuesday. One change is to give recruiters the option to extend a conditional offer immediately after an interview, so they don't have to risk missing out on a good applicant while they wait for reference calls, background checks and other time-consuming behind-the-scenes work.
Another provision in the bill would allow people who applied for work but weren't hired to ask the state to keep their resumes on file, so they wouldn't have to reapply every time a new job opens up, and the state might not miss out on an opportunity to hire someone who was previously their second choice.
The bill would also eliminate a legal requirement that state agencies wait at least three weeks after advertising a job before hiring.
It's unclear why Senate Republican leadership has previously refused to advance the bill, which passed unanimously in the state Assembly 13 months ago, but the committee's approval of the bill on Tuesday suggests it could come up for a vote in the Senate as early as this week.
Further price increases unlikely
House Bill 223 aims to make the state's hiring process more efficient, but it doesn't address a key issue that state agency leaders, state employee lobbying groups and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper say is the biggest problem: low wages.
Republican congressional leaders have opposed the public employee pay raises that Cooper and other Democrats have sought for years.
Last year, Governor Cooper proposed a two-year budget that would raise teacher salaries by an average of 18 percent, other school employees like bus drivers by 9.5 percent, and other state employees by 8 percent, with additional funding for bonuses targeted at the hardest-to-fill jobs.
Instead, the Legislature approved an average 7.5% pay increase for all teachers and state employees over that two-year period.
Congress is currently debating an adjustment for the second year of this two-year plan, which has a revenue surplus of $1 billion.
Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger said further pay increases for state employees were unlikely, but suggested lawmakers were considering using some of the surplus money to pay bonuses for state employees.
Cooper said that if the budget surplus wasn't spent on private school vouchers (which he opposes), it could be used to nearly double the pay raises public employees are due to receive when the new fiscal year begins in July, and also to give most public employees an extra $1,500 bonus on top of the pay raises.
