JEFFERSON CITY • Corrections officers could receive a piece of $6 million in hazardous duty pay under a budget proposal being mulled by Missouri Senators.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday added $6 million to the 2017 budget that begins July 1 to increase corrections officer pay because of their dangerous working conditions. The committee still must vote on the 13 budget bills before sending them to the Senate floor for further debate.

Sen. Dan Brown, a Republican from Rolla who sits on the committee, requested the money be added to the $27.1 billion budget in an attempt to offset high turnover, which can lead to higher overtime costs and more time spent training new workers instead of serving Missourians.

Starting pay to walk amid murderers and rapists as a correctional officer in Missouri is $28,260. The budget already includes a 2 percent raise for all state employees, which would increase correctional officer pay by about $565 annually, amounting to about $47 more per month.

Brown and others in the Legislature have sponsored measures in the past to implement hazardous duty pay for correctional officers, but those proposals have failed to cross the finish line. Brown and Rep. John McCaherty, R-High Ridge, are trying again this year.

Under the measure, correctional officers would receive an additional $75 per month beginning January 2017, an amount that would double in 2018. When fully implemented, the additional pay would cost taxpayers $13.4 million per year, according to a legislative analysis of the proposal.

It's not yet clear how the hazardous duty pay would work in the budget.

Lawmakers must complete the budget by May 6.

The bill is House Bill 2009.

Alex Stuckey • 573-556-6186

@alexdstuckey on Twitter

astuckey@post-dispatch.com

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