PEF
urges overrides of governor’s vetoes
By SHERRY HALBROOK
PEF has made up its mind: It’s time to make the state stop and think before it
hands out hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars to contractors for work
that might be done better and for less money by state employees.
The PEF Executive Board authorized $50,000 in August to fund a campaign calling
on the Legislature to override the governor’s veto of the Cost-Benefit Analysis
Bill (A.1259/S.6575), which would have required state agencies to analyze
whether it would be more cost effective to do a job in-house before contracting
with someone else to do it.
“New Yorkers need the protection of the Cost-Benefit bill to stop careless state
contracting that costs them $500 million more every year — money that could be
used to reduce taxes or improve services,” said PEF President Ken Brynien.
The governor also vetoed the Workplace Injury and Accountability Bill
(A.9692/S.6480), another key piece of legislation in PEF’s campaign for safer
worksites.
The bill would have required state agencies to annually report job-related
employee injuries and how much it cost the state;
“We are committed to these fights and we won’t stop until we all win the
responsible government and safe workplaces we deserve,” Brynien said.
FOIL gets teeth
A number of other bills that PEF supported also went to the governor this
summer.
One bill that was signed by the governor will finally put some teeth in the
state’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) — which gives the public access to
government documents.
PEF files dozens of FOIL requests every year, but sometimes finds it difficult
to get state agencies to comply within the time limits allowed under the law.
The bill (A.11449A/S.7011A) signed in August will force agencies that
deliberately drag their feet on FOIL compliance, to pay the legal costs of those
who must sue them to get the requested documents.
The governor also signed a bill (A.11944/S.8348) that makes it easier for people
who worked in the World Trade Center rescue, recovery and clean-up to file
claims for medical conditions, related to their exposure to hazardous
substances, that they develop later.
Another bill signed into law (S.8387/A.11928) protects the rights of a group of
former PEF members at the state School for the Blind in Batavia whose positions
were transferred to the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental
Disabilities. It grants them permanent civil service status and seniority to
their original date of hire, and protects them from a reduction in basic salary
as a result of the change in their job title.
More bad news
Cost-Benefit Analysis wasn’t the only bill the governor rejected recently. He
also vetoed bills to:
• Require 12 months prior notice before closing a state facility for the
mentally retarded or developmentally disabled;
• Require annual public reports on how many provisional and temporary employees
have been in state service for more than nine months and 18 months;
• Free parole officers from the burden of collecting supervision fees (See
related article, page 12.);
• Broaden the grounds for injunctive relief in certain improper-labor-practice
cases;
• Shorten the time for challenging employee-representation rights during
contract negotiations; and
• Establish that employee discipline is a mandatory subject of collective
bargaining.
Additional bills, including some PEF supported, are still being sent to the
governor for action.
The Communicator Oct. 2006
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