Legislative services warns 10,000+ comp hours used since 2025 session; urges structural changes to curb staff burnout

The director of the Legislative Services Division told the Section A interim budget committee on Wednesday that the branch has used more than 10,000 compensatory time hours since the 2025 legislative session ended and faces tens of thousands of hours in typical accrual that threaten 2027 session readiness.

"Please listen to this carefully because it's not a typo, we have used over 10,000 comp time hours since the '25 session has ended," Jerry Howe said, describing the cumulative time staff have taken off since session. He said that during a typical session the branch accrues about 18,000 comp hours and that staff shortages and concentrated unpaid overtime are creating scheduling and readiness problems.

Howe presented eight policy levers the legislative council and members could consider to limit future comp accrual: reduce the number of introduced bills, make more bills ready earlier in the cycle, reduce amendments and committee hearings, accelerate IT projects that save staff time, increase staffing in key drafting/finance/IT positions, consider focused buyouts for high‑accrual employees, and otherwise increase operational efficiencies.

Committee members debated tradeoffs between hiring additional FTE and changing legislative behavior. Senator Flowers noted earlier attempts to shift the burden and called for action; members estimated the cost of hiring enough staff to absorb the workload might be roughly $1.2 million and 7.5–8 FTE, but several legislators said structural changes should be pursued first.

Howe also said he did not intend to ask the committee for a supplemental appropriation to pay out comp time now, and he urged the committee and legislative council to consider a package of changes to reduce future accrual.

On related matters Howe raised legislator safety and operational items: removal of home addresses from public legislative web pages; exploring in‑home security assessments by the highway patrol; web‑scrubbing services to limit personal data exposure; and a small NCSL security grant (about $300 per legislator) the division is applying for.

The committee asked Howe to continue consultations and to return with options and cost estimates.