By SHERRY HALBROOK
According to New York’s new governor, 2007 is all about change. But it’s going to be in the state Legislature that many of those changes and their effects on state services are defined.

That makes the 2007 legislative session that began in January especially exciting and challenging. PEF hopes the shift in players and agenda finally will open the way to get some of the union’s bills passed and signed that have been repeatedly bottled up or vetoed in the past.

However, the changing political climate could pose as many risks as opportunities.

PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran is the union’s point man in this critical venture, and he is watching the situation carefully to position PEF’s priority issues for their best shots.

But it’s difficult to get a real feel for the session, he said, until Gov. Eliot Spitzer presents his first Executive Budget.

New chance for success
“We’re asking for a number of bills to be reintroduced in this session,” Curran said.

The Cost-Benefit Analysis bill that was vetoed last year is the only piece of PEF’s Go Public accountability legislation which has not been enacted. Curran said the union is looking for a new sponsor for it in the state Senate, since its previous Senate sponsor was not re-elected last November.

Spitzer’s call for greater accountability and transparency in the way state government works has raised PEF’s hopes that he will welcome this bill that requires state agencies to compare the costs of doing work with state employees versus private consultants before awarding contracts.

The governor is also calling for more reform of public authorities and the need for staffing them with employees selected for what they know, rather than whom they know.

“That fits right in with our call for putting public work back into the hands of public employees chosen for their merit and fitness through the state civil service system,” Curran said.

Other important bills the union wants to carry forward into the new session deal with: workplace violence — Judi Scanlon Bill, and the Workplace Injury Reporting Bill; nursing — Mandatory Overtime Bill and Safe Staffing Bill; and a broad range of pension and tier reforms.

PEF members looking for an early retirement incentive got their hopes up again last December when the Legislature briefly reconvened. However, it failed to take up an override of the 2006 ERI veto.

“ERI legislation is usually introduced in connection with the Executive Budget as a way to avoid layoffs,” Curran said. “We are waiting to see if that will come up in 2007.”

Old risk, new twist
One old issue came back with a new and dangerous twist at the end of 2006 — privatization of the three state University of New York teaching hospitals in Stony Brook, Brooklyn and Syracuse.

“Governor Pataki proposed their privatization several times as part of his Executive Budgets,” Curran said, “but the legislators consistently rejected it.

However, this time, the proposal is part of the Berger Commission’s report on hospitals released in late November of last year, and it became law January 1. Now, we have to come up with legislation to turn that around.”

Curran said he has heard that at least one legislator is drafting a bill to modify the Berger Commission’s call for merging SUNY Upstate Hospital in Syracuse with Crouse Hospital.

“We will analyze any proposals on this issue very carefully and we want to see how Gov. Spitzer responds to the privatization part of the Berger Commission report. Meanwhile, PEF is continuing its campaign opposing the privatization,” Curran said.

Too soon to tell
Two other areas of legislation likely to come up for action this year are civil confinement of sexual predators finishing their prison sentences and changes in the state’s Workers’ Compensation Law.

PEF will post updates on bills that it is supporting and opposing in this session on the PEF Web site at www.pef.org under Political Action.
 

The Communicator Feb. 2007

Features
Saving SUNY hospitals
Spitzer's plan comes in focus
Lifesaving tools in NYS prisons
The Winner's Circle

Departments
President's Message
You Said It
Member Mobilization
Legislative Action
Retirees In Action
Getting To Know PEF
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Union Matters
Black Caucus plan reception
Nurses' plan Lobby Day
Lawmakers visit CDPC
Sunmount member dies
Div. 343 mouurns member
Federal budget battles
The Joy of Giving
COLA is top contract issue
Military leave benefits extended
PEF wins Medicare Pt. B lawsuit
Redler earns activism award
E. Board prepares for future
E. Brd. vacancy filled, seats open
LabCorp gets Empire contract

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