Gov. Bill Walker has officially proposed freezing the pay of approximately 5,000 nonunion state employees.
Senate Bill 31 was announced Friday morning, two weeks after the Juneau Empire published the draft text of the bill.
It was read onto the Senate floor and referred to the state affairs and finance committees. No hearings have yet been scheduled.
“Until we enact a sustainable fiscal plan, we must make adjustments,” Walker said in a prepared statement. “I believe in leading by example and have reduced my own salary by one-third. While it won’t close the fiscal gap, this legislation is a necessary part of the solution to Alaska’s fiscal crisis.”
Walker’s proposal would save approximately $10 million per year, according to preliminary estimates.
The freeze covers “general pay increases, merit step increases, and pay increments for unrepresented employees in the executive branch, legislative branch, and the University of Alaska during fiscal years 2018 and 2019.”
Fiscal year 2018 starts July 1, 2017.
According to the text of the bill, employees would not be able to retroactively receive seniority-based pay increases once the freeze is lifted.
The freeze covers employees of the Legislature, the lieutenant governor and the governor himself. Walker has already announced that he will take a pay cut.
Walker announced his plans for a pay freeze push in mid-December, when he proposed his draft budget.
Walker’s measure was also introduced into the House as House Bill 71. That measure was also read onto the House floor and referred to the state affairs and finance committees there.