Report #2 2/12/1999

Session Off and Running

The first month of the 1999 session has not produced any partisan fireworks and that bodes well for our issues. Although it is still early, there is a sense that the bickering that has marred previous sessions may not arise this year.  

Deputy Prosecutors Bill SB 5152 -- Off To A Good Start

Our legislative priority bill this year was heard on Monday, February 1st in the Senate Labor and Workforce Development Committee. The hearing went well and your lobbyist’s testimony focused on the following points:

1. Our bill is not asking for anything new, we just want the same rights we had before the 5-4 Supreme Court Decision.
2. We have been bargaining for Deputy Prosecutors since 1982 and there has not been a problem until Sweetser v. the State of Washington.
3. And here is the clincher – Steve Tucker, the new prosecutor in Spokane wants collective bargaining in order to fix the office that Jim Sweetser tore apart!

Mr. Tucker was kind enough to submit a letter to the committee stating his support.

The bill passed out of committee on Thursday, February 4th on a 6-0 unanimous vote and is now in the Rules Committee. Although this is only the first step in a long journey, it is a positive sign. Please call the committee members and thank them for their support of SB 5152. Legislative Hotline 1-800-562-6000

Senate Labor and Workforce Development Committee Members:

• Darlene Fairley, Chair (D-32 Lk. Forest Pk.)
• Rosa Franklin, Vice Chair (D-29 Tacoma)
• Adam Kline (D-37 Seattle)
• Lorraine Wojahn (D-27 Tacoma)
• Bob Oke (R-26 Port Orchard)
• Harold Hochstatter (R-13 Moses Lake)

Please call the Rules Committee members and ask them to support SB 5152.

• Lorraine Wojahn (D-27 Tacoma)
• Albert Bauer (D-49 Vancouver)
• Jeri Costa (D-38 Marysville)
• Tracey Eide (D-30 Federal Way)
• Rosa Franklin (D-29 Tacoma)
• Calvin Goings (D-25 Puyallup)
• Tim Sheldon (D-35 Bremerton)
• Sid Snyder(D-19 Long Beach)
• Harriet Spanel (D-40 Bellingham)
• Alex Deccio (R-14 Yakima)
• Patricia Hale (R-8 Kennewick)
• Harold Hochstatter (R-13 Moses Lake)
• Jim Horn (R-41 Mercer Island)
• Stephen Johnson (R-47 Kent)
• Dan McDonald (R-48 Bellevue)
• George Sellar (R-12 Wenatchee)

 Retirement Issues – An Uphill Battle Worth Fighting

The Joint Committee on Pension Policy (JCPP) held a public hearing on February 4th and the agenda included possible improvements for P.E.R.S. II and Representative Cathy Wolfe’s (D-Olympia) Governance bill. Our efforts are two-fold:

• Improve P.E.R.S. II

We have a unique opportunity to improve P.E.R.S. II. As reported in the last report, both the employee and employer rates are slated for significant reductions (2.85%) in September 1999. The only thing that can alter the reductions are improvements to the plan. Our goal is to reduce the retirement age by lowering the actuarial penalty from 8% to 3% if you have at least 20 years of service and are 55 years old. This would be paid for by splitting the cost between the employee and the employer 50-50.

• Governance – The Big Picture

Representative Wolfe’s bill would give employees a seat and a vote at the table where pension policy is made. Washington is one of only three states that shuts the employees out of the process. Naturally, the pension gurus of the legislature do not like this bill as it dilutes their power and ability to only present one perspective.

Neither of these bills have numbers yet and are being fine-tuned as of this writing.

Bid Limits – SB 5469

This bill would double the current dollar amount of bid limits for public works in cities. Both cities and counties have a 10% of budget limit, but the cities also have project limits of $50,000. Our bill raises it to $100,000 and has an inflation factor built in. The bill is sponsored by Senator Julia Patterson (D-SeaTac) who is also the Chair of the State and Local Government Committee.

Our reason for supporting this bill is simple, public employees should be allowed to compete for and perform public works projects. The current limits shut us out. The four Democrats on the committee have signed onto the bill, but the following Republicans need to be called and asked for their support.

• Jim Horn (R-41 Mercer Island)
• Bob McCaslin (R-4 Spokane)
• Larry Sheahan (R-9 Spokane)

School Employees

The Governor’s budget contained a 2% salary increase in each of the next two years and benefit increases of about $65 dollars a month in the first year (1999-2000) and $35 dollars in the second year (2000-2001). A bit of a political game is being played by the Republican leadership who now have proposed a 3% increase in each year, but are silent on benefit increases. The teachers association, in a quest to get higher increases seem to be abandoning the issue of health benefits. They have been joined by the Public School Employees Association, which is a non-AFL-CIO independent organization that seems to consistently parrot the teachers without regard to the negative effects on classified employees. We will continue to stress the need for significant increases in the benefits area.

Members should call the legislative hotline and stress the need for health benefit increases and higher salary increases to K-12 school employees to keep pace with medical inflation.

Legislators

The prefix for your legislator’s telephone number is (360) 786

Legislative Hotline 1-800-562-6000

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