A bill from Senate Appropriations Chairman Roger Thompson would grant a nine percent salary hike to almost all state workers.

In December, Thompson proposed legislation to raise the pay of the state’s nearly 31,000 part and full-time workers by nine percent.

Tony DeSha, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Public Employees Association, said this was unprecedented in recent history.

“This is a great start because we haven’t seen anything like this in a long time,” DeSha said.

DeSha also said that the typical state employee earns about $50,000 a year, and a nine percent pay increase would amount to about $4,500.

State workers got their last across-the-board pay hikes in 2019, with increases of up to $1,500.

In 2022, ‘targeted pay raises’ were approved for some state workers such as Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents, public health workers, and state park rangers.

Thompson said he came up with the nine percent figure by considering the drop in state employees’ purchasing power since 2019. He said the proposed raises would cost the state about $173 million.

He blamed the drop in purchasing power on inflation, higher health insurance premiums, and other economic factors.

‘Thompson’s proposal has some backing in the Capitol rotunda, but it might get tangled in other policy debates as House leadership pushes for tax cuts this year.’

Thompson’s Senate Bill 1292 would exclude state elected officials, agency directors, judges, and district attorneys from the raises.