Legislature makes changes to state employees’ benefits and eyes pay raises for elected officers

The Utah Legislature voted Thursday to introduce a new benefits package for state employees and also raised the salary for multiple elected officials and judicial positions in Utah.

The governor, attorney general and other officials will be receiving pay raises of tens of thousands of dollars.

The bill to change state employees’ benefits faced some backlash from employees who were concerned about losing sick leave hours.

Before voting to pass SB229, the House introduced a substitute making the new benefits program optional. Any current state employee can choose to adopt the new program or continue with their benefits as they currently are. New state employees would receive the new benefits package.

“It creates a richer, better program,” said the bill’s sponsor Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan. “If the security blanket of sick leave is more important, people can choose that if they like.”

Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, said the Utah Public Employees Association is still against the bill despite the change.

The revised bill passed through the House with a vote of 57 to 17 and then passed in the Senate 23-6.

What the new state employees benefits look like

The most controversial portion of the bill is the combination of sick leave and annual leave. Instead of these two separate leave options, the employees will receive paid time off.

With the merger, employees would lose two hours of sick leave per pay period, and this is what most people against the bill have concerns about. Fillmore said that while it may be a decrease in quantity this bill brings an improvement in quality.

Under the bill the state would pay for a short term disability plan and an accidental death and dismemberment plan for each employee for the first time. Currently employees have to purchase these benefits through the private sector.

Fillmore pointed out that sick leave is a lot harder to use than other types of leave and most employees do not use all of their sick leave and are never paid for it. The senator added that those two hours employees are losing will be replaced by the temporary disability plan.

He added that executive directors have the ability to create additional leave availability. Each agency also has a pool of sick leave that people can pull from.

SB229 also includes an increase in the 401(k) match for Tier 2 employees. Currently all employees are matched up to $26 per pay period. This increase would make it so these employees could be matched up to 2% on a 50% basis. The other employees stay at the $26 level.

The accrual schedule for paid leave would also be changed making it so employees can accrue time off at a faster pace. The cap for compensable leave would also be increased.

Increase in salaries for governor, attorney general and others

On Thursday, the Legislature passed a bill to raise the annual salaries of the governor and other elected officials. SB235 was introduced by Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, and originally raised the attorney general’s salary to be equal to the chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court.

“Honestly when I see how hard he works and I look at how his salary compares to an associate attorney in downtown Salt Lake, it’s less than an associate attorney would make. I’ve been pushing all session to try to pump that up and there’s a lot of support for that,” McKell said about Utah Attorney General Derek Brown.

Each year Utah lawmakers set the salaries of executive and judicial officers. Typically lawmakers set a salary for the governor and then other officers’ salaries are based on a scaled amount. The attorney general earns 95% of the governor’s salary. The lieutenant governor, state auditor and state treasurer earn 90%.

Originally lawmakers set the salary for a district judge at $224,750 and the governor’s salary at $197,950 through SB8. But now SB235 will give the governor and other elected positions significant pay raises of tens of thousands of dollars by tying the governor’s salary to Utah Supreme Court justices.

Enactment of this legislation could cost $67,100 ongoing from the General Fund beginning in fiscal year 2027 to increase the salary of the governor to match the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Utah. This could also increase the salaries and benefits of the lieutenant governor by $58,700, the attorney general by $63,600, the state auditor by $59,000, and the state treasurer by $59,000, all ongoing from the General Fund beginning in fiscal year 2027. The total General Fund impact is $307,400 ongoing from the General Fund beginning in fiscal year 2027.

SB235 will cost a total of $307,400 to raise the salaries of these officials. There is $67,100 set aside of the governor’s pay increase, $63,600 for the attorney general, $58,700 for the lieutenant governor and $59,000 for the state auditor and the state treasurer.

For judges, lawmakers set a salary for district court judges and then other judges are on scaled amount based on that salary. Utah Court of Appeals judges earn 105% of the District Court judges’ salaries and Utah Supreme Court justices earn 110%.

McKell’s bill would have matched the attorney general’s salary with what the state’s top jurists make. After SB235 passed through the Senate last month, the House of Representatives changed the bill to make the governor’s salary equal to the amount paid to the chief justice.

“They recognize the governor works really hard, and he was in the bottom 10 of salaries across the country for governors,” McKell said about the changes the House made to the bill.

Under SB235 the governor would be making around $247,225, equal to what the chief justice would make. The attorney general would now make $234,863 with the lieutenant governor, state auditor and state treasurer making around $222,500.

“They said, look, we really want to help the attorney general. You’re right. He shouldn’t make less than an associate attorney, but we haven’t reviewed this in a long period of time, and we’re way behind on those executive offices,” McKell said.

The House retained the same pay scale for the rest of the executive branch. This means the governor, state auditor, state treasurer and lieutenant governor would receive a significant pay raise next year.

McKell also spoke about how Brown has been against the bill to raise his salary since the beginning of the session because he wants those who work for him to make more money.

“I think that’s why he needs the raise. I mean, frankly, Derek Brown has been up here advocating for his team the entire session and looking after his office. I think that speaks to his leadership,” he said.

After the changes were made the bill returned to the Senate for approval and McKell opted out as the bill sponsor. Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, is now the bill’s sponsor. It passed 26-2 and will now go to the governor’s desk.