This is the Federation Hotline updated Wednesday, Feb. 24. We’re leaving this message on through Thursday because of information and calls to action on the supplemental budget.
CRITICAL CALL TO ACTION ON HEALTH CARE
STOP HEALTH CUTS! Call 1-800-562-6000. Tell legislators to fund state worker health care at a fiscally responsible level in the supplemental budget (SB 6444/HB 2824). They will know what you mean.
STATE EMPLOYEES HAVE BEEN PUNISHED ENOUGH, WFSE/AFSCME TELLS KEY BUDGET COMMITTEES REVIEWING SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET PLANS
The Senate and House both held hearings late Tuesday on their respective supplemental budget plans, both unveiled Tuesday. Both plans raise revenue and close tax loopholes, but they balance the remaining deficit on the backs of state employees and the people they serve through skyrocketing health costs, closures, cuts and consolidations.
“It’s bordering on, frankly, irresponsibility to continue to expect that we can balance the budget on the backs of the people that provide services to our citizenry,” the Federation’s Dennis Eagle told the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Eagle told that panel and moments later the House Ways and Means Committee that while both budgets are a step in the right direction, they still ask state employees to sacrifice more on top of the more than $1 billion sacrificed last year in terms of lost pay raises, health care cuts, diversion of pension contributions and 2,500 lay offs and counting.
“And this year, this January, the average state worker is now paying $1,100 more annually for their health insurance,” Eagle testified in the House. “These are cuts that have already been imposed on state workers. Economic takeaways that we’ve already sacrificed.”
But both 2010 supplemental budget proposals assume $50 million in savings from furloughs, another 700 job cuts for a two year total of nearly 3,700 and more health cuts to fill a $200 million gap caused when lawmakers diverted health insurance funds in 2008, Eagle said.
“Absent corrective action … we would be looking at a tripling of health care costs for employees next January, which I believe exceeds the recommended punitive treatment from the Seattle Times,” Eagle told the House panel.
“We know that state workers are going to be making sacrifices. We did last year. We didn’t like it. We did it. We know we’re not coming out of this session unscathed either. But we have yet to see the limit. We have yet to see the point where we can all agree that public servants have been punished enough and we can move onto somebody else for a while.”
That drew a polite rebuke from the House chair, Rep. Kelli Linville of the 42nd District.
“And Dennis just so you know we are facing a tough budget time and our intent is not to punish state employees,” Linville said.
Eagle said Linville shouldn’t take his remark personally, to which Linville responded: “I knew you didn’t but I just thought I’d clarify.”
Because of time limits in the House, Eagle could not go as much into depth on other concerns with the budget. That wasn’t the case in the Senate where his defense of state institutions sparked a sharp debate with committee Chair Sen. Margarita Prentice of the 11th District.
“We strongly object to the proposed closure of Maple Lane School and it simply does not make sense on a policy basis, it’s putting the entire juvenile rehabilitation continuum at risk for minuscule savings,” Eagle told the Senate budget committee.
“We also object to the proposed closure of the Frances Haddon Morgan Center, particularly in light that there are not community placements and supports in place now for those folks….” at which point Prentice cut off Eagle.
“Why would they need to be in place if we don’t need them?” Prentice asked. “The point is we are going to be transitioning and particularly it’s the families that don’t want to see a change but I think if we need to do any, that’s the one we need to do.”
“We would ask you,” Eagle responded, “to perhaps consider that the $2 million in savings is small compared to the disruption and discomfort that would cause a number of…”
“…to the parents,” Prentice interjected. “What we’re concerned is the client themselves and the very negative approach that this took from 1972. Times have changed. And we know more about this now.”
(Prentice earlier encouraged the public to contact her office to get a DVD about how to treat autism or watch it online. Her website says: “Sen. Prentice secured $65,000 to provide funding for a DVD produced by the Univ. of Washington Autism Center.” We provide this information to you to provide context to the Prentice-Eagle debate.)
After this exchange, Eagle’s allotted time ended and he could not voice the union’s objections to other closures and cuts.
It’s unclear when the respective budgets will be voted on in committee. Technically, it’s the Senate’s turn to move first. But it’s likely the dueling versions will be rolled into one vehicle. When is anybody’s guess. The House Ways and Means Committee has a possible vote in today’s meeting.
KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING WITH CALLS ON THE KEY ISSUES:
Call 1-800-562-6000. Tell your legislators:
• STOP HEALTH CUTS! Tell legislators to fund state worker health care at a fiscally responsible level in the supplemental budget (SB 6444/HB 2824).
• RAISE REVENUE! Call 1-800-562-6000 to urge the governor to sign ESSB 6130 to amend I-960 and allow majority rule on revenue issues.
• CLOSE TAX LOOPHOLES! SUPPORT HB 3176 to close tax loopholes. It will recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.
• OPPOSE FURLOUGHS! OPPOSE SSB 6503, the state employee furlough bill. Its unintended consequences will cost more, not less.
• OPPOSE INSTITUTIONS CLOSURES!
• OPPOSE SENATE PROPOSAL TO MERGE NATURAL RESOURCES, PARKS AND FISH AND WILDLIFE.
• PASS INTERPRETERS’ COLLECTIVE BARGAINING BILL, ESSB 6726. Give state Medicaid interpreters a voice on economics and workplace issues and a seat at the table on a reform-oriented work group. It passed the House Commerce and Labor Committee Tuesday and now goes to the House Ways and Means Committee.
MORE TOWN HALL MEETINGS THIS WEEK
The Revenue Coalition holds additional town hall meetings with legislators this week:
Today, Wednesday, Feb. 24, in Everett (38th and 44th Districts), 6:30-8:30 p.m., Weyerhaeuser Room, Everett Station, 3201 Smith Ave., Everett, WA 98201.
And tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 25, in Bellingham (40th and 42nd Districts), 6:30-7:30 p.m., Bellingham Senior Activity Center, 315 Halleck St., Bellingham, WA 98225.
FOR CORRECTIONS MEMBERS, DON’T FORGET TO REGISTER FOR THE DOC SUMMIT
Corrections members have an opportunity to shape their future on a number of issues at the Federation’s DOC Summit
When: Saturday, March 20, 2010, 10 AM - 4:00 PM
Where: SeaTac Doubletree Hotel
Who: This summit is open to the first 200 DOC members who register.
Registration deadline: March 1, 2010
The goal of the summit is to gather a diverse group of DOC members from as many field offices, institutions, and represented job classifications as possible to help shape our future.
The summit will include:
An open conversation about what we’ve learned this past year and where we are headed now as a union.
AFSCME staff from “the other Washington” will share Corrections and Law Enforcement presentations from other parts of the country.
Lunch will be provided only for members who register prior to the March 1st deadline. WFSE will reimburse registered members’ travel expenses. Carpooling is encouraged.
PLEASE REGISTER ONLINE at WFSE.org > DOC Summit. Look for the DOC Summit icon in the upper right corner of the webpage. Questions? Contact Pam Herrick at 800-562-6002 or pamh@wfse.org.
That’s it for now. Call Friday for the next message.
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