Bill Resurfaces to Make Public Employee Names, Exact Salaries Private

Flickr: Marcin Wichary

A bill introduced last year in response to Civil Beat's publishing of state and city government salaries has resurfaced and will receive a hearing Friday.

House Bill 1356 proposes altering the portion of the public disclosure law that requires the name and salaries of government employees be made public. It would instead only require that their "job title and salary range" be subject to disclosure.

The bill — and an identical Senate version — did not receive a hearing last session.

In addition to striking names and compensation from disclosure, the bill proposes removing the requirement to make public an employee's:

"Business address, business telephone number, job description, education and training background, previous work experience, dates of first and last employment, position number, type of appointment, service computation date, occupational group or class code, bargaining unit code, employing agency name and code, department, division, branch, office, section, unit, and island of employment."

HB 1356 will go before the House Committee on Labor and Public Employment. Rep. Karl Rhoads, the committee's chairman, said he's OK with employee names being public.

"I must admit, I'm looking forward to the testimony with bated breath. Personally, I don't think it's a big deal," he told Civil Beat. "It's really not the same as the private sector because we're all paid for by taxpayer money."

Rhoads said he's more concerned about the part of the law requiring things like an employee's education and training background, previous work experience, and dates of first and last employment to be made public.

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