2/2/10

    This is the Federation Hotline for Tuesday, Feb. 2.


FURLOUGH BILL PASSES COMMITTEE, A LITTLE BETTER, STILL BAD

Members from Corrections, DSHS and L&I gather late Monday to witness the House Ways and Means Committee deliberations over the state employee furlough bill.

    The House Ways and Means Committee on Monday night passed out the state employee furlough bill, SSB 6503, somewhat better than it was but still a bad bill.

    The bill as it passed the committee gives agencies more flexibility to reduce compensation costs that could include furloughs. The bill does not mandate furloughs, but if agencies don’t come up with plans, then employees in that agency would have to take 11 days of temporary layoff or furlough. An earlier House draft had mandated furlough days whether an agency submitted a plan or not.

    SSB 6503 as it passed the committee also calls for $50 million in state compensation savings, with $10 million coming from the Washington Management Service and the exempt service. The Senate version called for $69 million in savings, with no mandate in WMS and EMS.

    Each General Government agency unit would bargain separately. For Higher Education, it appears that all but the University of Washington and Washington State University would bargain in one big coalition of all unions. UW and WSU would bargain separately.

    On the final committee vote, Rep. Sam Hunt, D-22nd Dist., and Rep. Steve Conway, D-29th Dist., voted no.

So, SSB 6503 is still a bad bill. So, continue to call the Legislature’s Hotline Message Center at 1-800-562-6000 and urge your two House members to oppose SSB 6503, the state employee furlough bill. The full House may vote on the bill later this week.


MORE ON PINE LODGE

    As we told you in the last message, the closure of Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women is on hold—at least for now.

    Some 250 people turned out Saturday sponsored by local legislators to save Pine Lodge. The audience was filled with AFSCME green shirts and a dozen or so Pine Lodge, DOC and Lakeland Village members testified against the closure. Two TV stations and the local weekly covered the event.


SENATE VERSION OF SHARED LEAVE CAP BILL HEARD IN EMOTIONAL TESTIMONY

    The Federation-initiated bill to raise the cap on how much shared leave longtime seriously ill employees can leave came before the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee Monday.

SB 6695 would help longtime employees facing the need for more than the current limit of 261 total shared leave days. Under HB 3063, employees with between 10 and 20 years of service could receive 522 days of shared leave. Those with more than 20 years of service, 788 shared leave days.

“This is a bill that would cost extremely little and do so much for the affected state employees,” Federation Lobbyist Alia Griffing told the panel.

The Department of Personnel estimated the bill would cost only $2,500.

“We’re talking about dedicated state employees with a long history of service, long institutional memories, and expertise that they’ve developed over time,” Griffing said.

Ecology manager Gordon White said the bill makes good business sense because it keeps employees off disability and on the job working for taxpayers.

“It’s really a compassionate program where other employees can help their colleagues out,” White said.

But it was Ecology employee Andy McMillan whose quiet dignity carried the hearing.

He apologized for wearing a facemask. Doctors ordered him to wear the mask because of the bone marrow cancer he has battled for five years.

“It’s considered an incurable and fatal disease,” McMillan said. “Fortunately, there are treatments that are available to keep one alive for several years.

“Since I was diagnosed, I’ve continued to work as much as I can, but I’ve had to cut back on my hours as my disease has progressed and the treatments have gotten more challenging.”

McMillan, who’s worked at Ecology for 24 years, had to interrupt his testimony to apologize as he was gripped by back pain, one of the side effects of his disease.

“Passage of this bill is just one small step that the state can take to help your employees at a time when sacrifice is being asked of us,” McMillan said. “I believe it serves the interests of the state as well as being the compassionate thing to do.”

The House version of the bill, HB 3063, was quickly heard and passed of committee Jan. 29.


FEB 15 IS GETTING CLOSER

Mark your calendars for the Public Employee/Revenue Rally and Lobby Day on the Presidents’ Day Holiday, Monday, Feb. 15. The rally will be at noon on the Capitol steps. But you can get a pre-rally briefing, lunch and lobbying appointments. Register now. Go to the Federation website at www.wfse.org and click on the RALLY icon in the upper right corner.


    That’s it for now. Call Wednesday for the next message.