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Texas senators play loose with payroll laws

10/6/08 Posted in CAR, First Amendment & FOIA, Government (federal/state/local)

“State senators may be violating a Texas Constitution ban on using taxpayer money for bonuses to government workers by approving temporary end-of-year raises to give staffers thousands of dollars in extra pay,” reported Matt Stiles of the Houston Chronicle.  An analysis of a state payroll database obtained through the Texas Public Information Act showed a pattern of temporary salary inflation at the end of the fiscal year in many Senate offices.  The bonuses totaled more than $650,000 in the past two years.

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