Review and update the locality salary tables for each State or Region

Locality pay for Technician Employees is set by OPM and the President’s Pay Agents with no flexibility on a state’s part. This group is 3-5 people the President appoints to consider recommendations from the DOL, BLS, OPM, OMB, and others based on their NCS/OES Model. They won’t listen to anyone in regard to changes to this Salary Table. The biggest issue is that the model does not include housing costs to determine whether a State or Region needs its own locality rate. In recent years the cost of living has skyrocketed, and a State's housing costs are too high for the pay received in the State as a technician. Attached is a report on Locality-Based Comparability Payments for the General Schedule. It shows rankings of states and their housing costs. Many states do not have their own locality rate and are grouped with the rest of the nation. This prevents States from attracting qualified applicants for most positions being hired. In addition, it is extremely difficult to retain qualified and trained technicians because they cannot continue to make ends meet with the salary they are paid. This takes an overall toll on National Guard readiness as many of these positions are at the directorate and support elements. This makes it challenging to continue to support combat-ready units and keep life support and pay actions continuing.

The Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States recommends to the Congress of the United States legislation in support of reviewing and updating the locality salary tables for each state.