The Latest: Budget committee OKs 2% raises for state workers

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Latest on the Legislature's finance committee's state budget deliberations (all times local):

11:50 a.m.

The Legislature's finance committee has approved provisions in Gov. Tony Evers' state budget that would give all state workers a 2% raise in each of the next two fiscal years.

The committee approved the plan 11-4 on Tuesday.

According to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, state employees' wages increased 6.1% from fiscal year 2010-11 to 2018-19. Inflation rose 16.4% over the same period. Non-retirement separations from state employment jumped from just over 6.1% in 2011-12 to nearly 10% in 2017-18.

The vote sets money aside for the raises in the budget. The Joint Committee on Employment Relations would have to authorize implementation.

The four Democrats on the committee voted against the provisions after Republicans reduced Evers' allocation for bringing some employees' salaries up to market levels by $8 million and eliminated his proposal to set the minimum starting wage for all non-University of Wisconsin executive branch employees to $15 an hour.

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10:15 a.m.

Republicans who control the Legislature's finance committee are planning to give prison workers bigger raises than Gov. Tony Evers is calling for in his state budget.

Evers' budget earmarks about $23.7 million for prison worker raises. His plan coupled with a 2% annual across-the-board raise for all state workers would move the starting wage for guards from $16.65 to $18.22.

The finance committee is scheduled to review the proposal Tuesday. The committee's Republican members told reporters before the committee convened that they plan to devote $35 million to prison raises, moving the starting wage to $19, raising upper-level salaries providing lump-sum bonuses for...