After several years of inaction, Missouri state government issued last week its request for proposals from potential consultants interested in determining the "total compensation" state employees receive.
Federal reports and a special Missouri legislative committee already agree - state government's employees are, on average, the lowest-paid in the nation.
But members of the Legislature's Joint Interim Committee on State Employee Wages also want to know if ranking changes when the employees' total compensation - salary, health care and retirement and other benefits - are considered.
So, they've been pushing for an appropriation to pay for a consultant to make that study - and Gov. Jay Nixon approved the 2015-16 business year's budget with a $300,000 line for that study.
"The committee has not met since late in 2012," Joint Interim Committee Chairman Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, reminded the News Tribune last week. "At the last meeting, the committee determined that a true comparison - a comprehensive compensation and benefits study - was needed of those working for the state, federal government and private sector to determine how Missouri state employees rank."
Bernskoetter said consultants who want to be considered for the project must return their proposals by 2 p.m. Nov. 6.
"It depends on how complete the bids are - how many bidders there are, etc. - as to how long it will take to award the contract," he said. "According to the contract, the work would have to be completed by June 15, 2016."
That means the information won't be available to affect any salary recommendations Nixon proposes in his final budget plan to the Legislature in January.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Missouri state employees ranking last among all states in 2013, with an average yearly salary of $39,993 per employee.
House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, and House Budget Chairman Tom Flanigan, R-Carthage, already have urged Nixon to include a state employees' pay raise in the 2016-17 budget.
"As the only state in the nation with an average yearly salary under $40,000, it is clear we must begin to take steps to adequately compensate the Missourians who work so diligently as state employees," Richardson said Sept. 30.
And state Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, endorses the idea.
"The figures we have now show Missouri state employee pay is dead last or very close to it nationally," Barnes said last week. "A more detailed study can be helpful, but I don't anticipate it will reveal anything radically different.
"Whether we're ranked 50th or somewhere just a little higher, I believe the focus should be on steady progress on pay, so that we can get out of the national cellar."
Bernskoetter noted whoever is chosen as the consultant doesn't have to compare Missouri government employees with everybody else in the nation.
"The scope of the study is somewhat defined in the RFP," he explained. It says "the contractor shall select a sample of employers to be surveyed from both the private sector employers and public sector employers in Missouri and similar-type organizations, including other state governments.
"The contractor shall also include other state government entities comparable in size, responsibilities, and structure to Missouri in the survey sample."
Once the survey is finished, the consultant's final report "will be delivered to the committee," Bernskoetter said. Then "the committee will schedule a meeting to discuss the findings and determine the course of the committee's actions."
State Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, also serves on the Joint Interim Committee.