BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Governors would have limited ability to dole out last-minute pay raises, if the House agrees to a measure that won unanimous support from state senators.
The bill by Republican Sen. Gerald Long would require the joint House and Senate budget committee to approve any salary boosts in the executive branch during the last 90 days of a governor's term.
The Senate backed the proposal Wednesday without debate.
Long's bill is a response to millions in raises given out by former Gov. Bobby Jindal's cabinet secretaries only days or weeks before they exited office in January. For example, Jindal's transportation secretary boosted the salaries of 3,800 workers about a week before leaving office.
That left Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration to deal with the financial implications.