3-14-13

Wednesday afternoon, March 13, the House Appropriations Committee, voted NO on a motion to give HB 13 a do-pass recommendation. HB 13 is the state pay plan.

Rep. Steve Gibson, R-East Helena, moved to pass HB 13 and send it to the House floor. His motion failed 9-12, with Gibson and the committee’s eight Democrats voting for HB13, while the other 12 Republicans opposed it.

House Democrats tried to “blast” HB 13 out of committee and on to the floor of the House today. March 14. The motion failed 41-55. Three Republicans voted for the blast motion: Steve Gibson, Liz Bangerter, and Mike Miller. All Democrats voted for the blast motion. Our thanks to all who voted for the motion.

MEA-MFT will be considering our options going forward, along with MPEA and AFSCME, the unions that joined with us to bargain the pay plan in HB 13.

“HB 13 is not dead. Wounded, but not dead,” said MEA-MFT President Eric Feaver. “It is still in play. Hopefully soon.” Please stay posted.

What you can do: E-mail members of the House Appropriations Committee.  Tell them how disappointed you are that more than half-way through this legislative session, they have nothing to show in the way of a state employee pay plan fair to all across the board. You can e-mail the whole committee with one message from the legislative e-mail system.

News story: House committee rejects pay plan bill