A bill that would implement negotiated raises for state workers and boost lawmaker pay in future legislative sessions was endorsed by the Montana Senate on a comfortable 37-13 margin Wednesday, with proponents fending off an effort to strip out the lawmaker pay raise.
House Bill 13, which passed the Montana House Jan. 27, faces a final Senate vote in the coming days before heading to Gov. Greg Gianforte for his consideration.
The bill, which implements a state pay plan negotiated last year between the governor and public employee unions, funds raises of either $1 an hour or 2.5% for state workers effective July 1 this year and again on July 1 of 2026.
Workers would receive the greater of the two increases. That means that, for example, a state employee currently earning $24 an hour — or $49,920 a year — would see their pay boosted to $25 an hour ($52,000 annually) this July and $26 an hour ($54,080 annually) next year.
According to a financial analysis prepared by the governor’s budget office, the raises will cost the state about $82 million a year once both rounds are implemented.
The bill also increases per diem rates for travel meal reimbursement and boosts state contributions to employee health insurance plans.
The lawmaker pay portion of the bill would increase pay for state representatives and senators, currently $10.33 an hour when the Legislature is in session, by tying it to Montana’s average wage, which is currently $27.90 an hour. The bill would boost lawmaker pay to 80% of the average wage in 2027 and to 100% of the average from 2029 on.
Most of the Senate’s debate before Wednesday’s vote was focused on the lawmaker pay provision as Sen. Sue Vinton, R-Billings, made an unsuccessful push for an amendment that would strike that portion of the bill. Quoting a written statement made by Gianforte as he vetoed a lawmaker pay increase that passed the Legislature in 2023, Vinton argued that the state benefits from a citizen-legislature model in which a measure of financial sacrifice is necessary to serve.
“Our system keeps governing close to the people and is part of what keeps Montana special,” she said.
Sen. Becky Beard, R-Elliston, also argued that lawmakers should serve primarily out of a sense of duty.
“This is a huge sacrifice to be up here, but we’re doing it because we love our neighbors,” she said.
Other lawmakers argued that the current pay rates make legislative service difficult for Montanans who aren’t retirees or employed with flexible work. Boosting pay, they said, would make it easier for a wider variety of Montanans, including those with young families, to bring their viewpoints to the House and Senate.
“This is a citizen Legislature and if we want to keep it a citizen Legislature we have to be open to all — and that includes the freedom to be able to afford to serve up here,” said Sen. Mary Ann Dunwell, D-Helena.
Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvray, R-Billings, said his efforts to recruit legislative candidates have often been rebuffed as soon as would-be lawmakers hear what the pay is.
“We have to view ourselves as a professional body,” McGillvray said. “We want professionals, people who are of a high caliber, who are well-educated, intelligent.”
The governor’s budget office estimates the lawmaker raises will cost about $2.3 million a year once fully aligned with the state’s average wage. The Senate push to remove those raises from the bill failed on a 12-38 vote.
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