Early on the morning of March 22, in one of its last votes on the Governor's revised budget proposal, the Legislature's Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to restore longevity pay for state workers effective July 1, 2010, and eliminate the payroll push as a funding mechanism. The committee also voted to eliminate the Governor's proposed three additional shutdown days.

In voting to restore longevity, committee members acknowledged that it was a mistake last year to have removed longevity from state workers' paychecks in the first place. Committee members voted to restore longevity as part of the Governor's revised budget proposal, meaning there won't be a payroll push to fund it.

While the Appropriations Committee's actions are an important step in correcting the removal of longevity pay and ensuring that there won't be three more shutdown days, there's still more work to be done. In the coming weeks, the entire Legislature will vote on the revised budget proposal as approved by the Appropriations Committee. Therefore, please contact your State Representative and State Senator immediately and urge them to support the revised budget proposal as unanimously approved by the Appropriations Committee.

Click here for the contact information for your legislators.

Together, we can restore longevity pay for state workers.