You can make a difference in just a matter of minutes - calls needed on revenue, loopholes, furoughs, RHCs and Interpreters

The Senate Ways and Means Committee on Monday voted out SB 6843 to allow a simple majority vote for revenue increases to deal with the deficit. A good bill. It is set for a vote of the full Senate Tuesday.

So keep the calls coming:

Call 1-800-562-6000.

Tell your legislators:

• RAISE REVENUE! SUPPORT SB 6843 to amend I-960 and allow majority rule on revenue issues. 

• CLOSE TAX LOOPHOLES! SUPPORT HB 3176 to close tax loopholes to 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.

You can also take online action at www.wfse.org > Action Center.

INTERPRETERS BILL BOOSTED IN HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE

HB 3062, the bill to give state interpreters collective bargaining rights and save the program came before the House Ways and Means Committee Monday.

“We are here united in our request,” AFSCME Interpreters United’s Narscisa Hodges, herself an interpreter, told the committee.

“Please restore the funding for DSHS interpreter services and cut overhead costs in this program to save the state money.

“And give us the collective bargaining rights so that we can be a part of the solution.”

“This bill points to savings by removing expensive overhead and administration,” interpreter Luis De Jesus said.

CALL TO ACTION ON INTERPRETERS BILL: Call 1-800-562-6000. Tell legislators: SUPPORT HB 3062 (the interpreters' collective bargaining bill). It saves money, it promotes efficiency, it makes interpreters part of the solution.

ALSO GET CALLS IN ON:

A.    OPPOSE SB 6780 (the RHC closure bill). It cleared one committee Friday and is now in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.


CAPITOL NUGGETS YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Nugget No. 1: The bill to split up DSHS into four smaller agencies got a polite hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee Monday, but it’s not expected to go very far. The administration said it’s making progress in addressing concerns about the agency. Breaking it up would also mean added costs by having four separate administrations.

LEGISLATIVE TOWN HALL MEETINGS SET FOR FEB. 20

Legislators will come home in several districts Feb. 20 to hold town hall meetings. This is your chance to turn out to fight back against program cuts and attacks on state employees.

Town Hall meetings are set for Saturday, Feb. 20, in the following districts: 6, 11, 23, 24, 25, 26, 37, 45 and 48. For details and a full schedule, to the Federation Website at www.wfse.org > Action Center.

Don't forget - next Monday, Feb. 15 is the big rally!

There’s still time to make plans 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.


And if you can’t make the whole day, come down for the rally on the Capitol steps at noon. You’ve heard a lot about Sarah Palin and the Tea Baggers who wrap themselves in Confederate flags and had a big convention in Tennessee this past weekend. Well, the Tea Baggers are scheduled on the Capitol steps right before our rally—so we need to show the world how wrong they are. That’s why it’s so important you come to Olympia next Monday.

As Federation President Carol Dotlich told 500 fired-up Policy Committee delegates Saturday in SeaTac:

“This is your test of time. This is the day you’re being called to action. This is the day you must perform like you never have before.”

“This is a classic case of why a union matters…,” Federation Executive Director Greg Devereux added.

“We’re in the fight of our life over these issues and we’re not going to take it the way they did it last year.”

OTHER RALLIES COMING UP:

- SAVE FRANCES HADDON MORGAN CENTER, 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m., this Saturday, Feb. 13, along Kitsap Way in Bremerton. Gather at Arnold’s Home Furnishings parking lot, 3506 Kitsap Way, Bremerton, 98312.

- UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, to fight program cuts and attacks on state employees, 10:45 a.m. – 2 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 18, Red Square (near Suzzallo Library).

- SAVE PINE LODGE, tentatively set for Feb. 20. Watch for details.

Calls needed this weekend on revenue and tax loophole bills

Well, legislators have finally heard you and have introduced legislation on revenue and closing tax loopholes we hope will go a long way to avoid deep cuts to the safety net of programs that you provide.

So, we need to do our part to support these efforts.

BACKGROUND:

• SB 6843 amends Initiative 960 to allow a simple majority vote to enact revenue increases. Right now, a two-thirds vote of the Legislature is required to approve revenue increases. SB 6843 would temporarily suspend that requirement to allow more flexibility in dealing with the deficit. Because the reality is the current super-majority requirement encourages California-style deal-making instead of sound-policy making. That’s not responsible governance.

• HB 3176 closes some tax loopholes, updates the tax code and makes other fixes to keep the tax code current and fair. In all, HB 3176 would protect or reclaim $363 million in state funding for 2009-2011 and $954 million in 2011-2013.

CALL TO ACTION

Please call the Legislature’s toll-free message hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and:

• Urge your legislators to support SB 6843 to amend I-960 and allow majority rule on revenue issues. We must protect the long-term investments in education and preserve the basic safety net for thousands of working families.

• And urge legislators to support HB 3176 to close tax loopholes to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Again, you can keep it real short. Call 1-800-562-6000. Urge your legislators to support SB 6843 to amend I-960 and to support HB 3176 to close tax loopholes.

The hotline will be open until 8 p.m. Friday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday.

• After you call - email this message to your legislators here.

KEEP THE PRESSURE ON AGAINST THE FURLOUGH BILL

Now this doesn’t mean we should let our guard down against the furlough bill.

That’s because SSB 6503, the anti-state employee bill on furloughs, is still set for a vote of the full House soon. However, it did not come to the floor Friday.

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.

Furlough bill set for a vote of full House soon; Latest bill to clean up Child Welfare Privatization plan heard in committee; and more Capitol nuggets you need to know

KEEP THE PRESSURE ON AGAINST THE FURLOUGH BILL

SSB 6503, the anti-state employee bill on furloughs, is set for a vote of the full House soon.

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.  Lawmakers should close tax loopholes before forcing state employees to sacrifice more on top of the $1 billion they’ve already given up to help rebuild our economy.

LATEST BILL TO CLEAN UP CHILD WELFARE PRIVATIZATION PLAN HEARD IN COMMITTEE

It’s gotten better, but Sen. Jim Hargrove’s take on tweaks to the pilot privatization projects in DSHS Child Welfare Services still raises major concerns.

That’s the message delivered to Hargrove and his Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee Thursday by the Federation.

Hargrove’s SB 6832 extends some time frames, but the section on contracting out still troubles employees, Jeanine Livingston, the Federation’s contracting compliance director told the committee.

The 2009 law setting up the pilots excluded state employees from bidding for the work under the procedures set up by the Personnel System Reform Act of 2002.

It was understood that exclusion would be lifted in the “clean up bill,” but it was not, Livingston said. Hargrove said there was a commitment to address the issue.

SB 6832 was due out of committee with further tweaks when it hits the full Senate.

CAPITOL NUGGETS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Nugget No. 1: The Senate Ways and Means Committee on Thursday passed out SHB 2998, the bill extending the freeze on bonuses and other special pay provisions for Washington Management Service and exempt employees. The bill cleared the House 97-0 on Jan. 28.

Nugget No. 2: Also passing the Senate Ways and Means Committee Thursday was Second SSB 6579, to set up a special committee to study improvements in information technology and systems in state agencies. The committee tacked on the Federation-initiated amendment requiring a front-line state employee be appointed to the committee.

Nugget No. 3: The Senate Ways and Means Committee also held a public hearing on SB 6843 to allow a majority vote for revenue increases, temporarily suspending the super-majority two-thirds requirement enacted by I-960.  

Nugget No. 4: Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women in Medical Lake got unexpected bi-partisan public support at a Thursday hearing in the Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee. In a hearing on a sentencing alternative bill, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Lisa Brown, D-3rd Dist., was asked by committee member Sen. Val Stevens, R-39th Dist., if Pine Lodge was closing. Brown responded that she hoped not. “It would be my belief that we should maintain some capacity for women in Eastern Washington…,” Brown said. “I believe it would be good state policy to maintain some capacity there.” “I was just hoping this (sentencing alternatives) doesn’t help them (the Department of Corrections) close it. Because I agree with you I’d hate to see that happen.”

UPDATE:  This is the article mentioned in the comments:
Seattle Weekly:  A Candy Land of Tax Breaks

Follow ups promised on DSHS Community Services Division workers

At last week’s (Jan. 28) meeting of the DSHS Community Services Division Ad Hoc Union/Management Communications Committee, the Federation team reached agreement to receive follow-up on a long list of issues.

Included:

• continued allowance of flexible schedules so that employees can serve more clients, especially those who work during the day; 
• when overtime is offered, the employees be allowed to work the batch, which the union team considers to be the work with the highest impact on providing good customer service and reduces call volume; 
• the team also asked that daily state deployment put more emphasis on the batch work, even if it causes longer call-wait times for clients because the longer-term payoff for customer service is worth it; 
• that further roll-out of the Service Design Review (SDR), including the call centers, be delayed until the pilot areas work the bugs out; 
• that more opportunities be created for employees and managers to work together collaboratively to solve problems, at the statewide and office level. 

For more, go to the CSD Blog at http://wfsec28-csd.blogspot.com/.

Federation members pack hearing room on latest bill closing residential habilitation centers

A bill with good intentions but unintended consequences came under fire Wednesday in the Senate

SB 6780 would require DSHS to submit a plan by the end of the year on how to move RHC residents to the community and close RHCs. It requires specific plans on how to close Frances Haddon Morgan Center by Dec. 12, 2012, and the remaining RHCs by Dec. 31, 2014.

The intent is to make sure resources, including state-run State Operated Living Alternative (SOLA) facilities, exist before RHC residents are moved out.

But the bill’s underlying assumption that RHCs must go troubled family members, Federation members and even one prominent senator on the committee.

Sen. Chris Marr, D-6th Dist., questioned DSHS cost analyses showing that community options are cheaper.

He said there’s no real apples-to-apples cost comparison covering cost transfers, local transportation costs, Medicaid transportation costs, housing subsidies and community support services.

“At the end of the day, (the governor contends) this would be less costly in the long run, but if we don’t know what it’s costing us today, then how can we suggest that it will be less costly in the long run?” Marr asked.

“I can’t see anything in the analysis that addresses savings.”

The hearing came in the wake of the Seattle Times’ three-part expose of abuses in the adult family home program, which was set up to handle those moved from private nursing homes. The fear is the same model of abuse would arise if RHC residents were moved into a similar loosely overseen network of homes.

“People with developmental disabilities and an individual who resides at an RHC cannot be cared fro on the cheap,” said Maureen Durkan, whose sister lives at Fircrest School in Shoreline.

“I think there’s been a number of attempts to compare apples to apples between the community’s and the RHC costs,” said Federation Executive Director Greg Devereux. “I think it has fallen short in many instances but when you boil it down, if you provide the same level of acuity care in the RHC or in the community, that should be a fixed cost—if you’re providing the same care.

“The major difference is, I believe, the labor cost, and that would be in health care and in pensions. And that to us represents skills and experience over the years (and) you’ll stabilize a workforce by providing pensions and good health benefits.”

By the end of the hearing, even committee chair and prime sponsor Sen. Karen Keiser, D-33rd Dist., pressed DSHS for better data.

“I think what we need is more details, because what we have here seems to be very vague and not very specific,” Keiser said.

General Government bargaining team begins groundwork for 2011-2013 contract negotiations

The Federation’s General Government Bargaining Team gathered in SeaTac Wednesday to begin the groundwork to get ready for negotiations on the next contract – the two-year pact running from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2013.

The team culled through some 300 proposed contract changes submitted by members. The team will then draft proposed contract language. Some of the proposals will be forwarded to agency-specific supplemental bargaining. No bargaining dates with management have been set yet.

The team also appointed several committees covering logistics, accountability, note-taking and communications.

The Higher Education Coalition of 12 Community Colleges, The Evergreen State College, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University and Western Washington University meets Feb. 10 to go over contract proposals submitted for their 2011-2013 collective bargaining agreement.

Formal demands to bargain the 2011-2013 contracts in General Government, Higher Education Coalition, University of Washington, UW Police Management and Washington State University were submitted to management last month.

All the teams gathered have already gathered for joint training on Jan. 28.

Speaking of supplemental negotiations - DOC negotiations wrap up

For a number of complicated reasons, some issues affecting Federation Department of Corrections members could not be bargained during the 2009 re-negotiation of the current, 2009-2011 contract. So they were deferred to supplemental negotiations that started in November and wrapped up this past Tuesday, Feb. 2.

The supplemental articles will now go to Corrections members for ratification. They should watch for details.

In summary, the DOC Supplemental Bargaining Team negotiated improvements in working conditions in nine articles and two memoranda of understanding. If ratified, these will be added to the current, 2009-2011 General Government contract.

The changes came in the following articles: Bid; Hiring and Appointments; Hours of Work; Overtime; Vacations (Scheduling); Safety and Health; Uniforms, Tools and Equipment; Meals; and Employee

In addition, a memorandum of understanding addresses a name change for Community Corrections officers. Under this MOU, a special work group, with direct participation by the DOC secretary, will convene no later than April 15 to address the name change issue.

Other issues raised at the table but not agreed to will be included in the next cycle of supplemental negotiations for DOC.

Keep the pressure on against the furlough bill; Capitol nuggets you need to know; Feb. 15 Rally

SSB 6503, the anti-state employee bill on furloughs, could come to a vote of the full House Friday.

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.  Lawmakers should close tax loopholes before forcing state employees to sacrifice more on top of the $1 billion they’ve already given up to help rebuild our economy.

CAPITOL NUGGETS YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Nugget No. 1: SB 6832, Sen. Jim Hargrove’s bad bill attempting to fix some of the problems in the privatization pilots in DSHS Child Welfare Services, was introduced Wednesday and comes up for a hearing today (Thursday, Feb. 4), at 3:30 p.m. in Hargrove’s Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee.

Nugget No. 2: The Senate Labor, Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee is set to vote on their version of the interpreters’ collective bargaining bill (SB 6726) today (Thursday, Feb. 4).

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.

House committee passes Interpreters bill out of committee; Senate bill gets good hearing

The House version of the Federation-initiated bill extending collective bargaining rights to state interpreters cleared the House Commerce and Labor Committee Tuesday on a 5-3 vote.

Committee Chair Rep. Steve Conway, D-29th Dist., said collective bargaining “is a problem solver” in trying to fix a broken system.

HB 3062 now goes to the House Ways and Means Committee, where it has until Feb. 9 to pass.

Meanwhile, the Senate version, SB 6726, came before the Senate Labor, Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee.

Over the years, the interpreter program run by DSHS has gotten bogged down with a system of middlemen who siphon off mostly federal funding before it even reaches the interpreters doing the actual translation services for non-English speaking Medicaid clients visiting their doctors.

That’s the message the Federation’s Dennis Eagle delivered the committee.

SB 6726 not only extends collective bargaining rights to the interpreters, but reforms the delivery of services by ending the brokerage system of middlemen, he said.

The program has been targeted by the governor for elimination to save $4 million while forfeiting $12 million in federal funds. 

“The best chance we think to save this program is if we can achieve some savings…,” Eagle said.

“We’re losing more money to middlemen than we’re actually spending on interpreters.” 

Interpreter Cynthia Roat said technology exists that would allow online booking of interpreters, making the archaic system of brokers unnecessary. More money would go to interpreters, which would attract more interpreters and still save the state money, she said. 

“I think we can do this more cheaply, we can do it more efficiently and we can do it in a simpler way,” Roat said.

The bill is about solutions, said interpreter Narscisa Hodges.

Right now, 40 percent of the funding is lost on overhead to the middlemen brokers, she said.

“Forty percent overhead is wrong,” Hodges said. “We have ideas. Pass this bill. Let us form a workgroup to find the answers. We must cut or limit middlemen and overhead costs. We must restore professional pay and fairness to improve quality. This will save money for the state.”

SB 6726 has until Friday to clear the Senate committee.