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Team MAPE Newsletter
April 28, 2009
· Join us for a lunch-hour rally at the
Capitol! Monday May 11th, Team
MAPE will be joining forces with other labor and non-profit organization to
give legislators the courage to make tough decisions in tough times. To protect
the essential state services Minnesota families need now more than ever,
responsible revenue increases must be a part of the budget solution. This event
will be held over the lunch hour in the Capitol Rotunda. Free Team MAPE
T-shirts will be provided for the first 100 MAPE members who register and
attend. CLICK
HERE TO LEARN MORE AND TO REGISTER FOR THE MAY 11TH INVEST IN MINNESOTA CAPITOL
RALLY.
· Want to hear more about our contract
agreement with the state?
The MAPE Board of Directors unanimously voted Friday to send the package to the
membership for a vote with the recommendation that they accept the offer for a
new two-year contract. MAPE members are being asked to ratify a new two-year
contract in voting that will take place next month. Click here for more info about the
contract.
Click here for to learn about
informational meetings on the contract being held all over the state.
· New York Times covers the furlough issue. Last week, MAPE negotiators used the fact that
furloughs will cost the taxpayers of Minnesota more than $4 million to get the
governor's team to drop the furlough issue from contract negotiations. Now, the
New York Times picked up the information for an article titled, "To save
money, states turn to furloughs," in the April 24 issue. Cllick here to read about the furlough
issue in New York Times.
· Want to vote on MAPE's contract? If so, you have until May 15 to join as a full
member in conjunction with our full membership campaign. Signed applications
must arrive in the MAPE office by noon on May 15. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
· Legislative Update highlights possible DHS
job cuts. The Senate released
their Health and Human Service Finance Omnibus bill at the end of last week.
There are some major concerns that the Senate proposal will cost MAPE employees
their jobs! Learn more the Team MAPE Legislative update. CLICK HERE TO READ THE LATEST TEAM MAPE
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE.
To
contact your legislators, please visit TeamMAPE.org.
Team MAPE Legislative Session Update
April 27, 2009
This
month, Minnesota Management and Budget released the state revenue
figures for the months of February and March. The net general fund
revenues were $46 million less than forecasted. Most of the shortfall
stems from lower than expected withholding tax receipts due to lower
than projected bonus payments. With news of the
unemployment
rate in Minnesota creeping up to 8.2 percent in March as the state's
employers shed an additional 23,200 more jobs, we should all wonder if
the worst of the economic crisis is really over.
With
the last and fifth deadline, May 7, 2009, rapidly approaching, all
conference committees on omnibus appropriations and tax bills will be
diligently working to ensure their bills are timely sent to the floor.
This week, the remaining finance omnibus bills will get a hearing on
the floor of the Senate and House. Following that, there will be
disagreements between the bills in each body resulting in the
assignment of conference committees also beginning this week.
DHS Budget = JOB CUTS
The Senate released their Health and Human Service Finance Omnibus bill at the end
of last week. There are some major concerns in the Senate’s proposal that will cost MAPE employees their jobs!
The
“CABHS as a Core Safety Net Function” did not receive any additional
funding as the Governor proposed. This lack of funding will likely
result in more state job loss as has been rumored by the Department of
Human Services.
Most
concerning is the Senate’s elimination of the MSOP appropriation for
the Department of Corrections sex offender treatment program. The
program is decimated with a nearly $3.35 million cut and may result in
the loss of many state jobs. To contact the Chair or committee member
go to:
http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/committee_bio.php?cmte_id=2002&ls=#members.
Taxes:
Last
week, both the House and Senate released their omnibus tax bills and
passed them off of their respective floors. Both of these bills are a
long way apart and are significant to balancing a budget for the next
two years. These bills will begin to be negotiated in conference
committee this week looking for an agreement between the House and
Governor’s office.
The
House
Omnibus Tax bill raises $1.5 billion in new revenue through the
creation of a 4th tier income tax bracket, eliminates dozens of
individual and corporate tax deductions including home mortgage and
child care, and imposes new taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.
The
Senate’s proposal would raise almost $2.2 billion over the next two
years and would expire in 2014. The proposal creates a fourth tier for
married couples earning more than $250,000, single individuals earning
$141,250, and for single heads of household earning $212,500. Under
their proposal, a single person with an income of $25,000 would face a
$102 tax increase and a single person with a $150,000 income would see
an $839 increase. A married couple with two children and a $65,000
combined income would see a $252 increase, and a married couple with
two children and $250,000 in income would see a $1,362 increase.
Domestic Partnership Benefits:
This
proposal provides insurance benefits for domestic partners of state
employees if they are also made available to spouses. This version
covers all domestic partners. You may have previously heard that MAPE
was responsible for ensuring that this provision did not pass out of
committee.
MAPE has, since 2001, been one of the strongest supporters of
same sex domestic partner benefits for all state workers and Minnesota
residents. We have backed same sex benefits and will continue to do
so. The issue of opposite sex partnerships can already be resolved by
marriage. We have always supported giving benefits to those who are
excluded. However, MAPE expressed concern when the legislature began
to mandate a $12 million dollar cost for all domestic partner benefits
as we head into push week with negotiations. This clearly is a cost
great enough to be determined at the bargaining table among those
members elected by the membership to negotiate our contract. The
provision still exists in the State Government Finance Omnibus Bill.
Corrections
Employee Retirement Plan: As
it stands, the Governor’s provision to remove all MAPE employees from
the Corrections Employee Retirement Plan does not exist in any Public
Safety Finance Omnibus bills, does not exist in the Omnibus Pension
bill, and does not exist in the Health and Human Services Finance
Omnibus bills.
Early Retirement Incentive:
A
bill (Senate File 1679 and House File 1893) providing a public employee
retirement incentive of up to 36 months of health insurance if you
retire before July 15th, 2011 received a hearing in the
Senate’s State Government Budget Division. Due to fiscal concerns, the
bill was sent onto the Senate Finance Committee without
recommendation. Under the bill, the state would pay to continue the
employer’s share of the health and dental premium for the employee and
the employee’s dependents.
DNR Outsourcing:
The
bill eliminating state tree nurseries and selected fish hatcheries over
the next five years was offered as an amendment into the House Omnibus
Environment Finance Bill, H.F.2123,
and as an amendment to the same bill on the House floor but did not
have the votes to be added as an amendment. Currently, the provision
has been successfully kept out of the House’s Omnibus Environment
Finance Bill and the Senate’s Environment, Energy and Natural Resources
Omnibus Finance Bill.
Information Technology:
A
study requiring the state’s Chief Information officer of the Office of
Enterprise Technology, in consultation with heads of other executive
agencies to report to the legislature by January 15, 2010, on a plan to
transfer from other state agencies to the Office of Enterprise
Technology state employees whose work primarily relates to development,
upgrading, replacement, problem resolution, or maintenance of state
data centers, system software, data networks, and office systems
currently resides in the State Government Finance Omnibus bill. This
report will include an estimate of the number of employees who would be
transferred, an estimate of enterprise costs savings, an analysis of
potential improvements in operations, and a proposed transition plan
and schedule. This study exempted the Minnesota State Colleges and
Universities and employees of constitutional offices.
Vacation Donation:
Bills
expanding the vacation donation program to allow employees to
donate 40 hours of vacation to a recipient and the recipient to accept
hours back to a time when they stopped receiving wages are slowly
progressing through the Legislature. One provision is in the House’s
State Government Finance Omnibus bill and the other is awaiting a
hearing in the Senate Finance Committee.
In Solidarity,
Richard Kolodziejski
MAPE Legislative Affairs Director
MAPE Negotiations Update
April 24, 2009 We need to
remind legislators about the important work we do for Minnesota.We also
need to tell legislators about our willingness to help them save the
state money. Click here to contact your legislators right now!
MAPE BOARD OF DIRECTORS VOTE UNANIMOUSLY FOR CONTRACT … NOW, MEMBERS ASKED TO RATIFY NEW TWO-YEAR AGREEMENT
MAPE’s
Board of Directors voted Friday to send the package to the membership
for a vote with the recommendation that they accept the offer for a new
two-year contract. MAPE members are being asked to ratify a new
two-year contract in voting that will take place next month.
The tentative agreement was unanimously
recommended for approval to the Board by the MAPE Negotiations Team on
Wednesday. Over the next few weeks, MAPE members will learn details of
the contract offer at informational meetings held all across the state.
- Furloughs are gone. After MAPE shows
governor’s team that furloughs will cost the taxpayers of Minnesota
more than $4 million, furloughs are dropped.
- NO CHANGE IN INSURANCE COVERAGE. Saving $85 million in health care costs that the state wanted to shift to state employees.
- MAPE eliminated the governor’s team across-the-board wage cuts.
- Negotiations status – This is a mediated proposed settlement for the first time since Al Quie was governor.
Important dates to remember:
- Must be a full member by noon on May 15 to vote on the contract.
- Ballots will be mailed by May 29.
- Last
day for locals to hold contract informational meetings is: June 12.
Can start after Board recommended contract to membership for a vote on
April 24.
- Ballots must be sent back to the special Post Office box set up for this election by June 19.
- Ballots will be counted on June 22.
Click here for a list of region/local contract informational meetings.
FURLOUGHS ARE GONE!
MAPE’s Negotiations Team showed that 48 days of
unpaid leave will not save the State of Minnesota money. Once the lost
revenue due to furloughs is calculated, it will cost the State of
Minnesota $4,330,000 to enact furloughs. That’s right. The state will
run a deficit to enact unpaid leave.
- While the governor’s team insisted on unpaid leave claiming that it would save Minnesota taxpayers $66,650,000.
- Then the MAPE team presented the governor’s team with solid research that could not be refuted:
- If
furloughs occurred, the State of Minnesota would lose $70,970,000 in
uncollected income taxes, lost federal money that the state receives in
revenue, and reimbursement that Minnesota will have to pay the federal
government. MAPE’s team ran through the numbers and by the end of the
session, the governor’s team acknowledged that they had not taken the
losses into account. The result of MAPE’s work showed that Minnesota
taxpayers would have to PAY $4,330,000 to enact furloughs.
- To
add to their case, the MAPE team provided documentation to the
governor’s team informing them of the federal requests although the
Social Security Administration sent their notice to the governor. The
goal was to help keep the governor’s team informed of the consequences
of imposing unpaid leave on jobs that are federally funded as well as
services that are provided with federal funds. Again, the governor’s
team was not aware of the federal agencies request for reimbursement
and asked for copies of the information.
HEALTH CARE SAVINGS
- NO CHANGE IN INSURANCE COVERAGE. Saving $85 million in health care costs that the state wanted to shift to state employees.
- Health care premium costs are frozen for year one.
- There
will be a $125 employer contribution to your Benny card in year two. In
the second year, there will be a family premium increase of 6.7 percent
or approximately $3.95 per pay period.
- The
state wanted to raise the amount of the deductible at certain clinics
as well as increasing other out-of-pocket costs for going to your
clinic. MAPE fought back and made sure that there was a hard freeze at
current levels so there will be no increases for the length of the
contract.
MAPE ELIMINATES WAGE CUTS
- MAPE eliminated the state’s take-back wage
proposals. The governor’s team wanted to cut wages across-the-board by
1.5 percent for each year of the contract. The tentative agreement
calls for a two-year wage freeze.
- The
governor’s team wanted to eliminate step increases for both years.
There will be one step increase for those who are eligible and meet
performance standards in the second year of the contract.
MEDIATOR PROPOSED SETTLEMENT
- For the first time since the Quie
Administration, there will be a mediator proposed settlement. Why?
Well, as it turns out, the governor’s team was unwilling to come to a
voluntary settlement with MAPE and AFSCME.
- The
good news is that with the solid research that the MAPE team produced
regarding the cost of furloughs and other ways to eliminate bloated
areas in government, the mediator proposed settlement used our
information as a basis for a good settlement that will preserve public
services and prevent furloughs.
New normal is painful for state workers
A "Push Week" plea for a budget deal that keeps state workers on the job.
Last update: April 18, 2009 - 10:30 PM
Since Saturday morning, at an undisclosed hotel somewhere in
Bloomington, Pawlenty administration and union negotiators have been
exchanging pitches and punches (of the verbal kind, we must hope) in an
effort to craft new two-year state employment contracts.
"Push Week" has arrived early this year.
Intense, round-the-clock bargaining between state managers and
leaders of the two unions, AFSCME and the Minnesota Association of
Professional Employees, usually does not commence until mid-June.
That's after the Legislature -- in a normal year -- has gone home,
having authorized -- in a normal year -- enough money for reasonable
raises for the two unions' 32,000 members.
The early "push" to pin down employee costs for 2010-11 is one of many indications that this year is anything but normal.
For employees like Darren Trast, a MnDOT metro maintenance
worker, a new contract can't come too soon. It's not that he expects a
raise or improved benefits. Far from it. A wage freeze throughout
government is almost a given. A wage loss, in the form of a required
24-day-per-year furlough, has been strongly urged as a job-saving
measure by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Even if a give-back contract emerges, layoffs are a good bet. The
governor's budget would eliminate an estimated 1,100 state agency jobs,
union leaders say. Wage concessions might ease that blow, but probably
can't avert it.
Still, Trast says he and his fellow snowplow drivers, culvert
clearers and pothole fillers would welcome any lessening of the
uncertainty that has been a recurring feature of their jobs in this
decade. "There's a lot of stress wound up in this," he said.
That's another marker of a new normal. People once chose government
work, even though it paid less than the private sector might, for the
sake of good benefits and job security.
Benefits might still look good in comparison to the gutting that has
occurred in too many workplaces. But security in state work? That's so
1998.
I met Trast in 2005, when tight money and a political impasse led to
eight days of locked doors at most state agencies. That "partial
government shutdown" came at a difficult time for the single father. He
spoke then about the worry associated with having a paycheck and child
support dependent on the good behavior of politicians.
Four years later, Trast's worries are back. Last week, several
reporters' questions at a Pawlenty news conference featured the word
"shutdown." This time, Trast isn't fretting from the sidelines. Now
president of his union local, he's at the hotel, helping and hoping to
strike a deal.
The unions opted for early talks in hopes of showing the Legislature
and governor where employees' wage-concession floor is, before a new
biennial state budget is set. There's only so far that AFSCME workers
who make an average of $38,000 a year will go.
"We want to ensure that later on, we don't become the pecking post if [the politicians] have got problems," Trast said.
In the years since the shutdown, Trast told me, he and his coworkers
helped divert traffic around the Interstate 35W bridge wreckage. They
turned modest Hwy. 280 into a major thoroughfare while the replacement
bridge was being built. They filled countless potholes, cleared
pollutants and kept roads passable during winter storms.
In other words, they spared Minnesotans lost hours in traffic, lost
money in car repairs and lost health due to unclean water. They did so
as part of one of the leanest government workforces in the country.
Only 11 states have fewer state and county workers per 10,000 residents
than Minnesota.
As they contemplate getting leaner this week, the two state unions
are asking their politician-bosses at the Capitol to balance the state
budget in ways that minimize layoffs. They favor an income tax increase
and stepped-up tax and bill collection efforts. They've proposed a
batch of spending cuts that don't involve layoffs for their members.
Their argument isn't that they deserve a smaller dose of
recessionary pain for their own sakes. It's that, as MAPE's Jim Monroe
said, "it's so important right now that the services we perform
continue."
"My argument is not that everyone is not suffering," added AFSCME's
Eliot Seide. "It's that we are the ones who help people get well again." Lori Sturdevant is a Star Tribune editorial writer and columnist. She is at lsturdevant@startribune.com.
Team
MAPE Legislative Session Update
April 20, 2009
This month, Minnesota
Management and Budget released the state revenue figures for the months of
February and March. The net general fund revenues were $46 million less than
forecasted. Most of the shortfall stems
from lower than expected withholding tax receipts due to lower than projected
bonus payments. With news of the unemployment rate in
Minnesota creeping up to 8.2 percent in March as the state's employers shed an
additional 23,200 more jobs, we should all wonder if the worst of the economic
crisis is really over.
The
State Legislature had begun assembling and sending their finance omnibus bills
to the House and Senate floor. Most of
these bills will be processed on the floor of both the House and Senate this
week.
Results
From Last Week:
H.F.1219 providing insurance benefits
for domestic partners of state employees if they are also made available to
spouses was amended into the State Government Omnibus Finance Bill, H.F.1781. This
version covers all domestic partners.
You may have previously heard that MAPE was responsible for ensuring
that this provision did not pass out of committee. MAPE has, since 2001, been one of the
strongest supporters of same sex domestic partner benefits for all state
workers and Minnesota residents. We have
backed same sex benefits and will continue to do so. The issue of opposite sex partnerships can
already be resolved by marriage. We have
always supported giving benefits to those who are excluded. However, MAPE expressed concern when the
legislature began to mandate a $12 million dollar cost for all domestic partner
benefits as we head into push week with negotiations. This clearly is a cost great enough to be
determined at the bargaining table among those members elected by the
membership to negotiate our contract.
H.F.691
expanding the vacation donation program to allow employees to donate 40 hours
of vacation or sick leave and allow the recipient to use the time without a
waiting period was passed out of the House Finance committee in the Higher
Education and Workforce Development Omnibus Finance Bill, H.F.860.
S.F.802,
the Senate’s Public Safety Omnibus Budget Bill passed out of the Senate Public
Safety Budget Division and the Senate Finance Committee. The bill has eliminated the Governor’s
proposal to cut MAPE employees out of the Corrections Employee Retirement
Program. Currently, the Governor’s
provision does not exist in either the Senate or House proposal of the Public
Safety Budget Division.
S.F.1679, a
bill providing a public employee retirement incentive of up to 36 months of
health insurance, received a hearing in the Senate’s State Government Budget
Division. Due to fiscal concerns, the
bill was sent onto the Senate Finance Committee without recommendation.
The bill eliminating
state tree nurseries and selected fish hatcheries over the next five years was
offered as an amendment into the House Omnibus Environment Finance Bill, H.F.2123, but did not get the votes to be
added as an amendment. Currently, the
provision has been successfully kept out of the House’s Omnibus Environment
Finance Bill and the Senate’s Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Omnibus
Finance Bill.
Coming
Up in the Legislature:
The
fourth deadline is rapidly approaching.
On April 22, 2009, House and Senate Finance Committees, The House Ways
and Means Committee and the House and Senate’s Committees on Taxes must act
favorably on omnibus appropriations and tax bills. This week, both the House and Senate committed
to releasing their omnibus tax bills I’m hopeful that both Health and Human
Service Omnibus bills will be released this week as well. Omnibus bills will continue to make their way
to the floors of the Senate and House throughout the week. Several omnibus bills should be on the
Governor’s desk by the end of the week.
In
Solidarity,
Richard
Kolodziejski
MAPE Legislative Affairs Director
Team MAPE Newsletter
April 14, 2009
Are
Minnesota taxes fair? Should a working Mom pay a higher
percentage of her income to taxes than a billionaire? Of course not, but a
new report from the State of Minnesota shows that poor and middle class
Minnesotans are paying a greater share of their income in taxes and fees
than the wealthiest Minnesotans. CLICK
HERE TO VISIT THE MAKE TAXES FAIR WEBSITE.
Team
MAPE Leadership workshop was a hit! Over 160 MAPE
leaders MAPE leaders heard updates on the state's $6.4 billion budget
deficit, the 2009 legislative campaign and negotiations with the
governor's team. MAPE's leaders then participated in breakout sessions to
discuss, and to develop and commit to action plans to get the word out to
all MAPE members. CLICK HERE TO
SEE PHOTOS AND READ ABOUT THE WORKSHOP.
Looking
for the latest budget news? As you know, the state budget deficit
is over $6 billion dollars. The deficit problem will be solved by a
combination of cuts, shifts and revenue increases. How the deficit will be
solved will have a significant impact on us as MAPE members. The Team MAPE
website has a specific area dedicated to the latest budget news from the
Capitol. CLICK HERE TO READ THE
BUDGET NEWS SECTION OF THE TEAM MAPE WEBSITE.
Team
MAPE helps push back on CERP changes. Last week, Representative
Michael Paymar and the House's Public Safety Finance Division passed its
omnibus bill out of committee without the governor's proposal in the bill.
The governor's proposal would have removed all MAPE job classes from the
Correctional Employees Retirement Plan. MAPE supported removing this
provision from the bill. Thank you to all members that contacted your
legislators on this issue! CLICK
HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Team
MAPE Legislative Session Update
April 9, 2009
The Legislature
adjourned for Easter break Tuesday night, April 7th and will be back on April 14th. This will be the only report for the week
starting April 13th. The next
Legislative Session Update will be posted on April 20, 2009.
Results
From Last Week:
S.F. 702
expand the vacation donation program to allow employees to donate 40 hours of
vacation or sick leave and allow the recipient to use the time without a
waiting period passed out of the Senate Committee on State and Local Government
Operations and Oversight and was referred to the Senate Finance Committee. This bill will most likely be making an
additional stop in the Senate State Government Budget Division as well.
S.F.1153 providing
insurance benefits for domestic partners of state employees if they are also
made available to spouses was heard in the State Government Finance
Division. It was laid over upon the
author’s request.
S.F.1344
requiring community-based residential services for patients at the Anoka
Regional Treatment Center was heard by the Senate Finance committee. This bill is heading for the Health and Human
Service omnibus bill and is likely to be conferenced with the House and Governor’s
proposal.
H.F.691
expanding the vacation donation program to allow employees to donate 40 hours
of vacation or sick leave and allow the recipient to use the time without a
waiting period passed out of the House State Government Finance Division and was
referred to the House Finance Committee.
H.F.834 establishing
a state employee suggestion system for making state government less costly or
more efficient and providing an award system at a maximum of $2500 was passed
out of the House State and Local Government
Operations Reform, Technology and Elections committee. The bill’s next stop will likely be the House’s
State Government Finance Division.
H.F.1219 providing insurance benefits
for domestic partners of state employees if they are also made available to
spouses was laid over by the House State Government Finance Division.
H.F.1657,
the omnibus Public Safety Finance
bill, was heard and amended in the House Public Safety Finance Division. This amendment removed the Governor’s
proposal removing all current MAPE employees from the Corrections Early
Retirement Plan.
Coming
Up in the Legislature:
The third deadline is
rapidly approaching. On April 16, 2009,
divisions of the House and Senate Committees on Finance are required to act
favorably on omnibus appropriation bills. Obviously,
with the fast deadline approaching regarding the omnibus bills, many bills have
the potential of being added at the last minute or amended into these omnibus
bills as they are completed and approved by the various Finance committees.
HEARINGS SCHEDULED: Public Employee
Retirement Incentive
On Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in room 112 of the
Capitol, the Senate’s State Government Budget Division will hear S.F.1679. This bill provides for a public employee
retirement incentives of up to 36 months of health insurance. The contact information for members of the
Senate’s State Government Budget Division is http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/committee_bio.php?cmte_id=2004&ls=#members.
In
Solidarity,
Richard
Kolodziejski
MAPE Legislative Affairs Director
On Tuesday night, despite an amendment offered by Rep. Paul Kohls,
Rep. Paymar and the House's Public Safety Finance Division passed its
omnibus bill out of committee without the governor's proposal in the
bill. The governor's proposal would have removed all MAPE job classes
from the Correctional Employees Retirement Plan.
Earlier in the session, the Pension Commission voted down the
adoption of the governor's proposal into the Pension Omnibus Bill. We
will be working hard to keep the provision out of the Senate's Public
Safety Finance Omnibus bill and preventing the provision from being
amended back onto the bills.
Team
MAPE Legislative Session Update
April 6, 2009
Results
From Last Week:
The Legislative Audit
Commission narrowed the 2009 topics to be evaluated by the Office of the
Legislative Auditor. The topics include
Alternative Education Programs, Medical Nonemergency Transportation Services,
Managing State-Owned Land, Renewable Energy Development Fund, Governance of
Minnesota’s Transit Systems, and Workforce Programs. The final topic to be decided will be
determined by the Commission as either the Public Defender System or the Sex
Offender Treatment Program at Moose Lake and St. Peter. The Commission will also be required to pick
their top five priority topics. The Senate’s State Government Budget Division
held a hearing on the consolidation of the state’s data centers. A MAPE member testified under limited time
constraints that consolidation, as it is outlined in the Governor’s budget
proposal, opens the door for OET management to consolidate data centers using
leased space in the private sector. This
could result in another loss of nearly 60 MAPE jobs.
S.F.1052 was
heard in the Senate State Government Budget Division. It requires the Commissioner of Finance to
study school
district participation in the state employee group insurance plan (SEGIP) or
public employee insurance plan. The bill
was amended requiring that the cost of the study come from general education
aid. The bill passed and was referred to
the Finance Committee.
S.F.713 was heard in the Senate Finance Committee. The bill establishes a program to solicit suggestions
from state employees for ways to reduce the costs of operating state government
or providing better or more efficient state services. An employee or group of
employees could receive a onetime award if their suggestion is determined by
the commissioner to have resulted in documented cost-savings to the state. The
maximum award is the lesser of ten percent of the documented savings in the
first year in which the employee's suggestion is implemented or $2,500. This bill was passed, referred to the Senate
floor and received a second reading.
S.F.702 expanding the
vacation donation program to allow employees to donate 40 hours of vacation or
sick leave and allow the recipient to use the time without a waiting period was
removed from the hearing agenda and rescheduled for 4/6/09.
S.F.1679 providing a
possible early retirement incentive of up to 36 months of employer paid health
insurance at the rate specified in the collective bargaining agreement was
removed from the hearing agenda and rescheduled for 4/15/09.
This
Week in the Legislature:
Tuesday is the second deadline or
the deadline for committees to act favorably on bills, or companions of bills,
that met the first deadline in the other house.
HEARINGS SCHEDULED: State Employee
Vacation Donation Program Expansion
On Monday at 2:45
p.m. in room 300N of the State Office Building, the House State Government Finance
Division will hold a hearing on H.F.691 expanding the vacation donation program
to allow employees to donate 40 hours of vacation or sick leave and allow the
recipient to use the time without a waiting period. The contact information for members of the State
Government Finance Division is http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committeemembers.asp?comm=86123.
On Monday at 3:00
p.m. in room 123 of the State Capital, the Senate Committee on State and Local
Government Operations and Oversight will hear S.F. 702 which also expands the
vacation donation program to allow employees to donate 40 hours of vacation or
sick leave and allow the recipient to use the time without a waiting period. The contact information for members of the
Senate State and Local Government Operations and Oversight committee is
available at http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/committee_bio.php?cmte_id=1026&ls=#members.
HEARING SCHEDULED: Domestic Partner
Insurance Benefits
On Monday at 2:45
p.m. in room 300N of the State Office Building, the House State Government
Finance Division will hold a hearing on H.F.1219 providing insurance benefits
for domestic partners of state employees if they are also made available to
spouses. Contact information on the
members of the House State Government Finance Division is available at http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committeemembers.asp?comm=86123.
On Monday at 12:30 in
room 112 of the State Capital, the Senate State Government Budget Division will
hold a hearing on S.F.1153 providing insurance benefits for domestic partners of
state employees if they are also made available to spouses. Contact information on the members of the
Senate State Government Budget Division is available at
http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/committee_bio.php?cmte_id=2004&ls=#members.
HEARING SCHEDULED:
State Employee Suggestion System
On Monday at 8:00 a.m. in room 200 of the State Office
Building, the House State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology
and Elections Committee will hear H.F.834 establishing a state employee suggestion
system for making state government less costly or more efficient and provide an
award system at a maximum of $2500. The
link to contact members of the House State and
Local Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections Committee is http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committeemembers.asp?comm=86132.
HEARING SCHEDULED:
Public Safety Finance Omnibus Bill - CERP
On Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in room 5 of the State Office
Building, the House Public Safety Finance Division will hold a hearing on the
omnibus Public Safety Finance bill.
Although the bill number is not listed, this should be the bill that
includes the Corrections Employee Retirement Provisions. This bill revises the CERP to remove all
current MAPE employees in the plan. This bill affects everyone in the plan and
could cost remaining participants over 2% of their salary to make up the cost
to the plan by removing the proposed groups of employees. I expect the
provision to be removed from the bill. Legislators
still need to hear about the work you perform on a daily basis and the risks
you take each and every day. The contact information for members of the
Public Safety Finance Division is http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committeemembers.asp?comm=86122.
In
Solidarity,
Richard
Kolodziejski
MAPE Legislative Affairs Director
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