Montana Representative Ron Ehli was pleased when House Bill 489 passed through a legislative committee this week. He prefers to call it the “Robin Hood Bill” because it takes from the Rich and gives to the poor. According to Ehli, the “rich” In this case, are Montana State administrators.

"I think that state government is top heavy," Ehli said. "So, when we are looking for budget dollars, I think those dollars are in the administration of state government, so that's kind of what I classify as "rich" just because I think that is where we are heavy with the revenue tax payers send to the state of Montana."

Ehli says the bill specifically targets those that receive bonus pay for an oversight position. According to Ehli, the oversight duties of some appear to be marginal.

"What I have found by looking into the upper levels of government is that there are a whole lot of positions in state government supervising one-on-one, or one-on-two,e.t.c," Ehli said. "In other words we have one supervisor supervising one employee and that's well, ridiculous"

Ehli pointed to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services as an example of  how one-on-one administration pay can go awry. According to Ehli, of the 3000 employees at DPHHS, 53 employees have oversight positions over a single employee.

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