Mo. budget negotiators back 2 percent pay raise

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Most Missouri employees could get a pay raise under an agreement reached by legislative budget negotiators.

House and Senate budget conferees agreed Monday to provide a 2 percent raise, beginning July 1, to state employees earning up to $70,000 a year. More than 54,000 employees would qualify for the pay raise, which covers nearly 97 percent of the workforce.

The raise was one of the first items addressed as the budget conference committee began publicly announcing deals Monday that had been worked out behind closed doors.

Under the Missouri Constitution, lawmakers must pass a final version of the state's roughly $24 billion operating budget by the end of Friday.

Among the other items under negotiation is whether to cut funding for a health care program for the blind.