BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's civil service agency wants to boost pay scales for rank-and-file state workers, hoping to shrink turnover rates and costs associated with lost employees.

The proposal carries a $46 million price tag, to pay for an across-the-board, 2 percent pay hike and adjust the minimum salary ranges for jobs.

Byron Decoteau, the state's civil service director, says high turnover rates cost agencies millions in lost productivity. Particularly hard-hit are the corrections and child welfare departments.

The pay changes would affect 38,000 classified state workers governed by civil service, not political appointees.

Republican lawmakers have pushed back against the idea of any raises right now.

But the decision rests with the Civil Service Commission and Gov. John Bel Edwards. Edwards was briefed on the proposal Friday, but hasn't taken a position.