Furlough bill passes committee, a little better, still bad

UPDATE:  2/3/10 2:00 PM 
HOUSE PLACES BAD FURLOUGH BILL ON FAST TRACK FOR PASSAGE; KEEP GETTING CALLS IN  

The House Rules Committee on Tuesday moved the bad state employee furlough bill closer to a final floor vote by putting it on the Second Reading Calendar, an important procedural step.
 

The full House meets Wednesday, but it’s believed the bill may come to a vote of the full House Friday. All 98 House members gather on the floor Friday morning at 10 for a scheduled three-and-a-half-hour session.  Time is of the essence. 

• SSB 6503 is still a bad bill. 

• Closing some of the state’s $14.8 billion in eligible tax loopholes should come first before taking more from the same state employees who have already sacrificed $1 billion in pay, health care, pension funding and jobs.  

• Continue calls to 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.

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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.