ASU faculty and other state employees are going to see bigger paychecks starting in March.
Last week, Gov. Janet Napolitano signed House Bill 2661 into law, which will increase state employee pay by 6.3 percent.
Ben Nelson, a professor of anthropology in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, said he supported the decision.
"Arizona is doing a good job at trying to catch up to where it should be in its investment in education," he said.
Peggy Nelson, professor of anthropology and associate dean of the Barrett Honors College, said she was also pleased with the decision to increase salaries.
"Its great to see that the state government is really supporting education," she said.
The bill, sponsored by Bill Konopnicki, R-Safford, appropriates about $51.7 million in fiscal year 2005-06 and about $169 million in FY 2006-07 for the pay raises.
The money will come from the state general fund and other funds, providing a lump-sum increase in March and performance-based pay increases after that.
Additional performance-based incentives would be issued after quarterly or monthly reviews of
employees' performance.
The performance-based measures are designed to improve the quality of delivery of state products and services, increase productivity and reduce cost, according to legislative fact sheets.
"Normally, I do not sign bills that will have a significant fiscal impact until the entire budget is resolved," Napolitano said in a written statement. "In this instance, however, Arizona's state employees have waited long enough for a real pay raise."
The bill was signed subject to one line-item veto. The lines Napolitano crossed out would have made certain employees hired after Dec. 31, 2006, exempt from certain state personnel rules.
Exempt and non-exempt employees earn annual leave differently, and the change would have posed additional costs for the state unrelated to salaries, Napolitano said.
Arizona employees are classified into two groups, exempt and non-exempt. Exempt employees include elected officials, employees of the Legislature, state officers, those who report to the governor directly and executive directors of each state agency or department.
"While the remainder of this pay package is a good start, it is just that: a start," Napolitano said in a written statement. "Future raises will be needed to bring state employees in line with their counterparts in other public sector positions."
The governor's budget proposed additional pay increases this year for university faculty, public safety personnel and certain employees at the Department of Health Services.
"Employee compensation is something we have neglected for a large number of years," said George Cunningham, Napolitano's deputy chief of staff of budget/finance, when he presented the governor's budget recommendation in January.
Reach the reporter at laura.graham@asu.edu.
