The Arkansas Senate on Tuesday approved a bill that would increase the annual salary of the state Department of Human Services director from $162,647 to $280,000 for the rest of the fiscal year ending June 30.
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The Senate's 33-0 vote on House Bill 1135 came five days after the House approved the bill Thursday in a 96-0 vote. The bill goes to Gov. Asa Hutchinson for his signature.
With Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, not voting and Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, on leave, the Senate approved HB1135, along with 15 other appropriation bills, in a single vote.
HB1135 also would provide the department a supplemental appropriation of $146,276 for the rest of fiscal 2016.
Afterward, Joint Budget Committee co-Chairman Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, said he voted for the bill because "I decided there are so many problems over there [at the Department of Human Services], if she can fix it, she is worth the money," referring to the department's new director, Cindy Gillespie.
King said in an interview that he didn't vote for any appropriation bills considered in the Senate on Tuesday because "there are so many things that need to be tightened up.
"A lot of these appropriation bills, you don't know what you are voting on until they are over with," he said.
King acknowledged that he didn't know HB1135 increased the salary for the new Human Services director. Teague made no mention of the salary increase when he presented the bill to the Senate.
Gillespie, who has experience working on health care policy, including for Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney from 2003-06, has been working under a consulting contract with the Human Services Department since March 1. The contract is for $49,000 and expires Saturday. She succeeded John Selig, who worked from July 2005 until last month.
Hutchinson believed that the salary increase was needed to hire the best candidate to manage state government's largest agency, spokesman J.R. Davis said when Gillespie's hiring was announced in February.
The agency has an $8.3 billion budget and more than 7,000 employees.
A Section on 04/27/2016