Legislative Report #2 2/24/97

Nearly 150 members attended Council 2’s legislative meetings February 6, 7 and 8th. The event was kicked-off Thursday night with a reception for legislators, which provided our members a chance to chat with their district representatives. The following day we set out by bus (in the snow) to pre-scheduled meetings with each member’s (members who had requested a meeting) Representatives and Senator. Prior to the meetings we went over current legislative issues, namely welfare reform and the displacement issue concerning public employees.

This event has grown in popularity and is paying off in political clout. The fact that actual constituents from their districts come to Olympia to lobby for their Union makes an impression on the legislators. We all owe a great deal of thanks to the individuals who took the time to help us by meeting with their legislators.

Senator Deccio (R) Yakima, accepted our amendments offered by Senator Wojahn (D) Tacoma regarding displacement and labor standards, this is a major victory for us. Senator Deccio was very supportive in correcting our concerns with the bill. Our members from Senator Deccio’s district who met with him had a very big impact in gaining his support.

We thought we had it worked out, we were wrong. Representative Suzette Cooke (R) Kent, put in an amendment that would help fix the displacement problem but withdrew it under pressure from her caucus. Another even better amendment correcting the problem was offered by Representative Jeff Gombosky (D) Spokane but was voted down. Now the only hope on the House side is to amend the bill on or before it gets to the floor. Please call your house members at 1-800-562-6000 and tell them to adopt the anti-displacement language offered by Gombosky.

Our bill to adjust the current bid limits by inflation was heard on February 17th. Getting the hearing in itself was a victory. Again, the members from the Chairman’s district helped. Senator Bob McCaslin (R) Spokane met with a group of ours from Spokane who went over the importance of the bill. We testified along with the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) that the bill was simple enough in that it only applied inflation to the existing dollar amounts. The private contractor big guns naturally opposed the bill because it took away some of "their work." In order to stay alive, the bill needs to be voted out of committee by March 3rd

.Just when we think we’ve killed the beast once and for all, it rises to life once again! HB 2017 sponsored by Representative Don Carlson (R) Vancouver, puts classified school employees in the P.E.R.S. III type plan called "Washington Educational Employees Plan III."

Current employees have the option of transferring, but new hires would be in automatically. Here’s what happened:

In 1995 the teachers were the only group that wanted the new plan. Everyone else - police, fire, state and local government folks said no way. Why? It does nothing to lower the retirement age of 65! If it passed we never would be able to lower the age. Representative Carlson wouldn’t give up. He marketed the plan across the state, but still no one wanted it.

Since the teachers were the only ones who joined they need to increase the number of participants for this new scheme to work. So they went looking for a patsy. Enter Public School Employees of Washington (P.S.E.). Always eager to please the teachers union, P.S.E. told lawmakers that all classified employees favor the new plan. Wrong! The coalition we work with represents thousands of classified school employees all of whom are against it.

It’s very important that this bill does not pass. Not only would our classified school employees be harmed, but so would our efforts to create a new plan.

The bill is before the House Appropriations Committee. The committee members are:

Huff, Chair	Wensman, Vice Chair	Clements, Vice Chair	Alexander, Vice Chair
H. Sommers	Doumit	Benson	Carlson
Chopp	Cody	Cooke	Crouse
Dyer	Gombosky	Grant	Keiser
Kenney	Kessler	Lambert	Linville
Lisk	Mastin	McMorris	Parlette
Poulsen	Regala	D. Schmidt	Sehlin
Sheahan	Talcott	Tokuda

Thanks to Representative Mark Sterk (R) Spokane, the portion of this bill that stripped away some subjects from being collectively bargained by classified school employees was removed. The subjects were transfer, assignment, scheduling and school year calendar.

1997-98 salaries are being debated. We’ve advocated a flat dollar amount which would benefit our folks more than a percentage increase. Former Governor Lowry’s budget called for a 2.7% and 2.5% increase, but that won’t carry much weight with the legislature.