Legislature still debating graduated-raise plan

Gov. Jane Dee Hull wants to make raises for UA employees smaller than planned and distribute them later in the year, she said Tuesday, changing her original stance that called for eliminating the raises altogether.

Hull asked the state Legislature Tuesday to approve 2.5 percent raises for all full-time public employees, including University of Arizona employees, to be distributed on June 24.

Originally, and as the law currently reads, all full-time public employees would receive 5 percent raises, with a $1,500 minimum raise, on April 1.

"Barring a compromise by all parties, my only option as governor may be to exercise my veto power and substantially reduce the April pay package as approved by the Senate," Hull wrote in a press release, referring to a plan that has passed the Senate and is now under debate in the House.

The House and Senate are deadlocked on a plan to give employees raises on a smaller, graduated scale as opposed to the 5 percent earlier agreed on.

In the plan currently under negotiation in the House, employees paid more than $82,000 yearly would not receive a raise. Those making less than $55,000 yearly would receive a 5 percent raise. Those making between $55,000 and $82,000 would receive a 3.5 percent raise.

That plan also contains a clause that would endanger UA by cutting funding in half for a job whenever it was vacated, said Greg Fahey, associate vice president for government relations.

Fahey added that he thought lawmakers were duped into adopting the clause as part of the 2002 budget, which passed the Senate, because they were told the clause would not take real money from state universities.

The million-dollar question, said Senate Democrats, is whether the governor has the power to line-item veto specific parts of the proposal in the House.

But Francie Noyes, Hull's press secretary, disagrees with the senators, saying Hull has never considered exercising a line-item veto on the plan, despite an Arizona Republic report that she might try to eliminate all the raises except $1,500 increases for employees earning less than $30,000.

If Hull did use the line-item veto, the question of the move's legality would ultimately be answered in court, after a recommendation from Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano.

Senate Democrats think the new plan is veto-proof.

Pati Urias, Napolitano's public information officer, said that the attorney general has not received a request to make a recommendation about Hull's power in this case. Any such recommendation would usually take two months to process.

The Legislature has been stuck in a special session debating the 2002 fiscal budget for more than a month. Lawmakers must figure out how to deal with a $200 million deficit for this year, before moving on to the 2003 budget that begins in July.

However, if the Legislature takes no action before April 1, Hull cannot veto the 5 percent raises, which will automatically be distributed under the law.

"It is very interesting that the governor is coming out and saying she doesn't support the salary increases since she supports a tuition increase because she thinks that would benefit the universities," said Arizona Students' Association Director Jenny Rimsza.

Rimsza said she and other ASA officers will go to the Capitol March 26 to protest salary cuts and that they have launched a letter-writing campaign.