HELENA — Lawmakers got their first look Friday at a proposed 3 percent raise for state government employees over the next two years.

The $100 million proposal, brokered by the Schweitzer administration and ratified by the state’s largest public employee unions last fall, was pitched to the House Appropriations Committee as a fair and sustainable plan that gives state agencies more flexibility and a greater ability to hire and keep employees.

“This is the most sophisticated pay plan offered to the Legislature in recent memory,” said David Ewer, the governor’s budget director. “Maybe ever.”

The deal would give all employees a 3 percent raise starting later this year, with the pay hikes varying according to income. An employee making $30,000, for example, would get a $900 raise, while someone making $120,000 would get $3,600 more.

The agreement includes a 6 percent increase in the state’s monthly health insurance contribution. The state would pay $33 more in the first year and add another $36 a year later if lawmakers approve the plan, said Rep. Jon Sesso, D-Butte, who is sponsoring this year’s pay plan bill.

The measure also calls for switching most of state’s employees over to one pay plan system. Currently, about 25 percent of state employees remain on a system established in 1975, said Paula Stoll, who brokered the pay plan on behalf of the state.

“It’s time to dissolve that (old) system,” said Tom Burgess with the MEA-MFT union.

Agency heads praised the proposal, which some Republicans on the Appropriations Committee also indicated they would support.

In 2005, a brief standoff erupted when GOP committee members blocked approval of the salary increases endorsed by the Schweitzer administration and proposed their own more expensive pay plan. House Democrats rescued the governor’s proposal after it stalled in committee, and that plan was eventually approved by both chambers.

The bill is House Bill 13.