A bill giving State Auditor Dave Boliek more power to fire or discipline some employees in his office advanced Tuesday, despite concerns from the State Employees Association of North Carolina.
Under House Bill 549, any employees the Auditor's Office hires after July 1 would be exempt from the State Human Resources Act.
That would give Boliek more ability to hire or fire them as he wants to. He could also potentially offer them larger raises or be more generous with other elements of the compensation packages such as benefits than is currently allowed.
An earlier version of the bill would have automatically exempted all Auditor's Office employees from the Human Resources Act, alarming lawmakers.
In a revised version considered this week, Rep. Brenden Jones made a tweak to say the existing 144 Auditor's Office employees would decide whether their positions should be exempt. Right now, 19 Auditor's Office employees are exempt from the Human Resources Act, a spokesman said.
There are several existing exemptions to the State's Human Resources Act, including employees of the General Assembly, the Judicial Branch and the Governor's Office. In an earlier committee, lawmakers expressed concern that giving the auditor power over all of the department's employees would open up the possibility that more Council of State members could ask for the same authority.
The House State and Local Government Committee approved the bill Tuesday, and was scheduled for a vote in House Rules on Wednesday before being pulled from the calendar for a second consecutive day.
Ardis Watkins, the State Employees' Association of North Carolina's executive director, told lawmakers they should not have signed off on the legislation. It could, Watkins warned, result in a more partisan agency.
"You voted for lack of transparency in government, for less efficient government where you can get rid of people who are career professional state employees and are nonpartisan (to) put whoever you want in there. And you voted for a government that's not accountable to the people," Watkins said.
Watkins was speaking before the State and Local Government Committee where, in an abnormal sequence, the public comment happened long after legislators had voted to advance the bill out of committee.
Impact on DAVE Act
The Senate's state budget proposal includes $6 million to fund 45 new positions for the Auditor's Office's Division of Accountability, Value and Efficiency.
Should those positions be included in the final version of a budget that becomes law, they would be hired after July 1 and, therefore, not be subject to the state's Human Resources Act.
Following a committee meeting Tuesday, Watkins said that Auditor's Office officials had asked State Employees' Association lobbyists if they would sign off on a version only omitting employees of the new efficiency division from state human resources protections. The Association, Watkins said, did not agree to those changes.
"I can think of no agency where it's more important that someone be impartial, nonpolitical, that somebody be a professional employee. We want the best, not the best connected, working for the State of North Carolina," Watkins said in an interview.
The legislation also clarifies that Boliek has the power to probe digital databases, data sets or records that are associated with government grants or funds. That applies to grants or funding from the federal government, state government or local subdivisions.
Jones, a Columbus County Republican and sponsor of the bill, said the bill clarifies what kind of information the Auditor's Office should be able to access so it can better track public funds.
"At its core, this bill reaffirms a basic principle: Transparency is non-negotiable. When public money is involved, no agency, no contractor, no public-funded entity should be beyond independent review," Jones told the state and local government committee.
