Committee takes aim at state employee bonuses
Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, Thursday filed legislation that would require state agencies to post online the compensation of their executive staff and would prohibit them from accepting donations — including from foundations — to supplement an employee’s salary.
The proposals by Flynn, who along with Rep. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, is co-chairing a special House Committee on Transparency in State Operations, stipulate that “an agency may not accept a gift, grant, donation or other consideration from a person, including a foundation or other entity, to be used as a salary supplement” unless the agency also provides a methodology or a market analysis to justify the pay increase.
The legislation appears to take aim at two foundations that have made headlines in recent years for supplementing top state government staff: the University of Texas Law School Foundation and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Foundation.
Thursday, Alvarado said she also was surprised this week to learn of a $162,500 bonus paid last year to Ann Bishop, the former executive director of the Texas Employee Retirement System. Bishop recently returned to the ERS after a brief stint as Gov. Rick Perry’s chief of staff.
“My concern about this is the disparity of income between the executive staffs of various agencies,” Alvarado said. “It seems to me it’s all over the place. No one is policing this.”
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