Abdallah's Bonus Bill Killed
Air Date:02/10/2012
A bill to level the playing field for state employee bonuses was killed in committee last night. The bill comes in the wake of Governor Dennis Daugaard's proposal to give a five percent of salary bonus to state employees after the extended pay freeze. State Senator Gene Abdallah brought the bill to give every state employee the same bonus of 23-hundred dollars across the board.
SDPB's Charles Michael Ray has this story.
State Senator Gene Abdallah says state employees making six figures don't need a bonus as much as those on the lower end of the pay scale.
"Anyone making 300-thousand dollars a year under the governor's plan would get 15-thousand dollars and I think everybody would agree they'd run to the bank with it. But an employee getting 16-thousand dollars a year and got a 23-hundred dollar bonus would pay a bill that they probably owed, buy close for the kids, buy groceries, or put that money back into the economy," says Abdallah.
Abdallah, a long time Republican says he received a small amount of negative feedback on this proposal.
"I can tell you right off hand they weren't from anyone making 45-thousand or less that called my bill a socialist proposal, if there is anything I'm not it's a socialist," says Abdallah.
Opponents countered that the Governor's office is very open to ideas to make the plan better and more fair but that a one size fit all approach isn't the answer. The committee killed the bill six to two.
Download Audio Here.
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