BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A Louisiana lawmaker on Thursday shelved his proposal to give parole officers a pay raise by increasing the monthly fees charged on those they supervise by $37, as senators instead vowed to find other ways to get the officers more money.
Rep. Lance Harris, an Alexandria Republican, voluntarily withdrew his House-backed bill from consideration during a Senate tax committee hearing, saying he knew the committee members would vote against it.
Senators said they understand the officers need salary increases to combat high turnover. But Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, a New Orleans Democrat, said people who are already struggling financially should not have to pay for those pay hikes.
“My colleagues everywhere in this building have heard you because you’ve been here,” Peterson told two dozen parole officers who attended the hearing. “We want you to know that there are a lot of different ways to skin a cat. And we’re in the process of skinning it.”
Senators have added dollars for the officers’ pay raises, along with salary hikes for some other state workers, in their version of next year’s budget, which they unveiled Thursday. It’s unclear if the House, which previously rejected spending on the parole officer pay raises, will agree to add the money.
Probation and parole officer Francisco Dean told senators that officers are juggling too many cases and will have to handle even more if lawmakers pass a series of measures to decrease the state’s incarceration rate by giving more offenders probation or parole. Backed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, those bills have been steadily progressing through the Legislature.
Dean argued that parole officers hold a crucial role in lowering recidivism rates.
“(The raise) has to be a significant increase because we’re expecting 40 percent of our department to possibly leave,” Dean said. “This is a public safety issue. … All I’ve heard this session is that we do not want to incarcerate more people than anywhere else in the world. Help us help you.”
Harris’ proposal to increase the fees from $63 to $100 would have applied only to people with jobs - about 50 percent of the population, Dean said.
Parole officers have not received merit-based raises since 2008, Dean said.
“You absolutely deserve and will get a pay raise,” said Sen. J.P. Morrell, the New Orleans Democrat who is committee chairman.
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House Bill 302: www.legis.la.gov
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