State Patrol pay surveys would run every two years

The legislative auditor would compare police pay and benefits and report the results to lawmakers overseeing the State Patrol budget. It would cover State Patrol troopers, union-represented police departments in metropolitan-county cities with more than 25,000 residents, and police departments in cities classified by state law as first class. The survey would use the previous completed calendar year and count workers as full-time equivalents. It would exclude payments for work performed for an entity other than the officer’s employing agency. Surveys would be due by January 1, 2027, and January 1 of every odd-numbered year afterward. Reports would be due by January 15 in those years.

State Patrol supervisors’ salary adjustments would have to be proportionate to troopers’ adjustments resulting from the survey. The rule would cover supervisory ranks, including corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, and captains. Within the State Patrol, the survey would remain limited to patrol troopers. Workers and the state could negotiate pay above amounts supported by the survey.

The commissioner could appoint State Patrol lieutenants as needed and assign their duties. Candidates would come from the listed State Patrol ranks and need at least five years of experience as troopers, corporals, sergeants, or supervisors. Appointments would follow the law.

The referenced 2024 section would apply to contracts without a stated end date. This provision concerns Laws 2024, chapter 104, article 1, section 2. The available passages do not explain which contract rights or duties the referenced section covers. It would cover contracts entered into on or after the referenced section’s effective date: the day following its final enactment.