Legislative Update - March 2007

Session Update – As we approach the Easter break, MAPE legislation is gaining traction.  The MAPE Legislative Action Team is working hard, often 12 hour days, for MAPE friendly legislation. 

 

Salary supplement – Employees deserve adequate wages. We also need the resources to do our jobs for all Minnesotans. We deserve to be paid adequately for this important work. We are asking for a salary supplement so that our compensation does not come at the expense of agency budgets and of our quality of life. The Senate has included a 3.25% salary supplement in agency budgets. It will be stipulated that these funds are to be used specifically for salaries and not for insurance or other benefits. Please encourage House members to pass on the message to leadership: We are requesting a supplement that is larger than the 2% allocated in the Governor’s budget.

It is possible that the House will simply match the governor’s 2% proposal, instead of matching the Senate’s 3.25% proposal. Health insurance increases are projected to be between 10% and 12% each year of the biennium. A 10% increase in health insurance costs is equal to a 1% salary supplement. Therefore, health care costs would eat up nearly the entire 2% salary supplement proposed by Governor Pawlenty. This is unacceptable. We are calling upon the House to match the Senate’s 3.25% proposal. It is crucial that we have both the compensation we need for our families and the funding to continue doing our jobs for the state of Minnesota.

Outsourcing and privatization – MAPE is pushing legislation that would prevent outsourcing and privation of state workers by requiring agencies to certify that no state employees on recall lists are able to perform specified job duties before contracting out. Until this week, these bills were SF471 and HF548. Each bill received numerous hearings. Both are now included in the each chamber’s state government finance omnibus bill.

Keep the Lights on - There have been similar bills introduced (S.F. 11 and H.F. 7) in both the House and the Senate pertaining to continuing appropriations that would deal with the potential of any future government shutdown and the effect it could have on the MAPE membership.  The bills keep existing appropriations in effect at the base level through the fiscal year ending June 30th of the next even-numbered year.  Both bills have significant support. The House bill in particular has gained significant momentum with more than 34 authors, of both parties, signed on. Both bills are in each chamber’s finance committee.

Health Care – MAPE supports universal health care and efforts to make our health care system more efficient and cost effective. Each year, the increase in health care costs eats up a large percentage of our total compensation. The Senate has introduced a bill that MAPE strongly supports S.F.2 introduced by Senator Berglin. It is a large extensive bill that in part requires a plan for universal health care and numerous other reforms.

• MAPE opposes the “independent mandate” portion of the recently announced “Healthy Minnesota” initiative. This is similar to the Massachusetts law that forces all citizens to purchase health insurance, but provides no funding to make insurance affordable for low wage workers.
• MAPE supports HF 1588, which would establish a state employee electronic health records pilot project. This bill, and its companion in the Senate, will be included in the state government finance omnibus package.

Domestic partner benefits - These bills require that health insurance benefits be made available to domestic partners of state employees if they are also made available to spouses. This item was included in the State Government Finance omnibus bill in both chambers.

• The Senate Chief Author was Sen. Sandy Pappas; in the House, it was Rep. Phyllis Kahn.
• One of outour members, Lori Lippert has done a great job testifying. She was quoted in the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press and on MPR.
• The state government finance omnibus bill has passed in the Senate, including the Domestic Partnership provision.
• The Senate passed the measure; however, it was amended to provide domestic partnership benefits at full cost to the enrollee. In other words, domestic partners of state employees will now have the ability to access health care through the state but they would be responsible for the full cost, similar to the cost of a COBRA benefit.
• In the House, this provision is included in the State Government Finance Omnibus bill, which passed out of committee yesterday.

Compensation for Partial Government Shutdown – Representative Leon Lillie, our MAPE Legislator of the Year,  has taken the initiative to author legislation that would “make whole” members impacted by the 2005 government shutdown. His bill is H.F. 333. In the House, this measure is included in the state government finance omnibus bill. In the Senate, SF 329, is currently being held up in Senator Cohen’s Finance Committee.

Cards, Emails, Letters and Phone Calls - We urge every member to take a few minutes out of their day to visit MAPE.org and Legislative Action.  We will continue to update the web site with legislation supported by MAPE in conjunction with MAPE’s Legislative Positions.  The key message at this point involves the salary supplement. It is important to keep the pressure on, particularly in the House, to have the House match the Senate’s 3.25% supplement.