HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 3

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011

INTRODUCED BY

Patricia A. Lundstrom

FOR THE GOVERNMENT RESTRUCTURING TASK FORCE

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE STATE PERSONNEL OFFICE TO CONDUCT A REVIEW OF EXEMPT AND CLASSIFIED ADMINISTRATIVE AND MANAGERIAL POSITIONS AND THE SALARIES PROVIDED FOR EACH CLASSIFICATION.

     WHEREAS, over the last several years, the number of exempt positions in the executive branch has grown at an alarming rate, as have the salaries of those exempt positions; and

     WHEREAS, in 2001, all cabinet secretaries made seventy-five thousand three hundred fifty-two dollars ($75,352); by 2010, the salary range for cabinet secretaries was from seventy-five thousand four hundred eighteen dollars seventy-two cents ($75,418.72) to one hundred eighty-six thousand six hundred sixty-four dollars nineteen cents ($186,664.19); and

     WHEREAS, not only is the pay range too broad, with a difference of one hundred eleven thousand two hundred forty-five dollars forty-seven cents ($111,245.47) from the minimum to the maximum, the increase in cabinet secretary salaries is significant over the nine-year period; and

     WHEREAS, over that same nine-year period, a deputy cabinet secretary went from a range 34 with a salary between fifty-two thousand dollars ($52,000) and eighty-three thousand five hundred dollars ($83,500) to a range 38, which is between sixty-two thousand dollars ($62,000) and one hundred fifty-three thousand four hundred fifty-two dollars ($153,452); and

     WHEREAS, there are too many pay ranges, and the ranges themselves are too wide; and

     WHEREAS, the justification for significantly higher salaries for exempt employees is that they serve at the pleasure of the governor and do not have job security; however, along with the higher salary comes the same benefit package as that given classified employees, and some perquisites that are not uniformly available to classified employees, such as use of a state vehicle and cash for sick leave and all accrued annual leave; and

     WHEREAS, there have also been eight new cabinet departments created in the last eight years, with high numbers of exempt employees; for example, the latest department, the department of information technology, has two hundred one full-time-equivalent positions, which includes a management staff of twelve exempt employees, including two deputy cabinet secretaries, and the Indian affairs department has fifteen authorized full-time-equivalents, six of whom are exempt employees; and

     WHEREAS, contrast that with the exempt salaries plan for the department of health, with almost four thousand employees and only fourteen exempt employees;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the state personnel office, in conjunction with the legislative finance committee, be requested to study the number of exempt employees and their positions, salary ranges, salaries, benefits and perquisites; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state personnel office reconsider many of the positions that have been determined to be policymaking and, therefore, exempt from the covered service; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study include recommendations for bringing exempt salaries and benefits into parity with classified salaries; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state personnel office and the legislative finance committee report to the governor and the New Mexico legislative council by September 1, 2011 on recommendations for changes in law, rules, policies and the exempt salaries plan; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the state personnel office and the legislative finance committee.

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