FT Work For PT Pay May Soon End At State House

CBS 11

May 06, 2008

The Legislature's long-standing practice of hiring full-time employees at part-time hours and pay may be nearing an end just as the issue becomes a political football for state lawmakers.

The Austin American-Statesman has reported that at least 12 House employees are paid less than $300 a month and work other jobs, but have been enjoying the insurance and pension benefits of full-time employment.

As lawmakers were asked to remove the so-called ghost employees from their payrolls, investigators began an inquiry into what rules or laws may have been broken after the newspaper report last week put the practice in the public spotlight for the first time.

Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick ordered a full investigation into the practice by the House Investigations and Ethics Committee.

House Administration Chairman Tony Goolsby asked lawmakers to review their records, noting that such arrangements would be in violation of House rules and state law.

The newspaper reported that Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle also is investigating the practice for possible criminal violations, but Earle's office would not confirm such an investigation.

While House rules allow each lawmaker to hire and supervise his employees, the rules also define full-time status as 40 hours per week.

"Designating a state employee as a forty hour per week employee, when the employee is in fact not a forty hour per week employee, brings discredit on the House and undermines the financial structure of the Employees Retirement System of Texas," Goolsby said in a letter to all House members.

At least two of the ghost employees employed by House Democrats were former lawmakers, whose pension is tied to years of service. That means the longer they remain a full-time employee, the more they get paid in retirement.

Republican Rep. Larry Phillips of Sherman, chairman of the investigating committee, said he expects the flap to result in a change in House policy.

"This kind of thing has been going on forever," said Austin ethics attorney and former Capitol staffer Buck Wood. "The House has allowed them to do that. Specifically (House rules) say that the House member has complete power over that aspect of their office funds.

"Those rules give the legislators so much leeway."

Wood said he doesn't expect criminal prosecution over the flap.

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