Proposed federal law, regulatory changes pose problems for PEF

By SHERRY HALBROOK and MATTHEW  WATSON
Whether you are working overtime or out of work, keep a close eye on what’s going on in Washington.

PEF and its international affiliates are working hard to protect you and your family from the potentially negative affects of pending federal legislation and proposed regulatory changes on issues that range from employment services and overtime pay to Social Security and highway funding.

The federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) which funds employment services provided by PEF members at the state Labor Department, was set to expire September 30, 2003. 

Now, PEF is lobbying for proper funding and continuation of these important public services. But it’s an uphill battle against a move by the president to privatize them.

Last year, the Senate and House passed different bills to extend the WIA funding for this fiscal year. And a joint Senate-House conference to resolve the differences in the bills was put off until early this year.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) has been stalling the Conference Committee appointment process until the Democrats receive assurances from the Republican majority that they will not be locked out of negotiations as has as happened with other issues recently.

President George Bush’s budget proposal anticipates legislation renewing the Workforce Investment Act that will fund the Employment Service and adult and dislocated-worker training programs through block-grants to the states and cut total funding by $150 million. 

Bush’s proposal would privatize the employment services and replace them with a patchwork of for-profit and non-profit organizations that would undermine public accountability. 

Battle over OT going into OT
Throughout 2003, the Bush administration fought to eliminate overtime pay for millions of working Americans and it’s still on course with that plan, despite organized labor’s unflagging efforts to derail it. 

More than 550,000 people, including many PEF members, have signed electronic and paper petitions opposing the change and 1.7 million opponents have sent faxes since Bush first announced the proposal in March 2003, but he has remained unmoved. 

Lawmakers in both houses of Congress listened to their constituents and voted last year to prohibit the Bush administration from issuing any rule to remove the overtime protections, but he successfully blocked that measure from becoming law.

In March, the U.S. Labor Department hammered what may be the final nail in overtime’s coffin when it sent the rule to take away overtime pay from 8 million working Americans to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its review and approval. 

The rule change guts overtime protections workers have relied on for decades under the national Fair Labor Standards Act.

Delivery of the rule to the OMB means the overtime pay take-away is imminent, with the exact date up to Bush.

Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate have vowed to continue fighting to restore the overtime pay.

Road to disaster?
If you’re dodging potholes every day on your way to and from work, you had better get good at it, because they may just get bigger, instead of patched this summer.

The state and its cities and towns depend heavily on federal funding to pay for highway and bridge maintenance, and this year that money is running short thanks to massive federal tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy. With income tax revenues flagging, Bush is less willing to spend on maintaining the nation’s infrastructure.

The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) which was set to expire September 30, 2003, has been extended until the end of April. TEA 21 is landmark surface transportation legislation, primarily because it ensures that highway user fees are spent only for the purpose of highway, transit and safety programs. Additionally, the funding levels provided for these programs are tied to receipts coming in to the Highway Trust Fund.

The federal budget approved by the Senate would not provide enough money to match the $318 billion in the Senate-approved transportation reauthorization bill that it passed in February. The budget resolution would provide only $207.2 billion for fiscal years 2005 through 2009. 
Even though thousands of jobs are created by the transportation bill, the president has threatened to veto it because he believes the dollar amount is too high. 

In the House, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) said in mid-March that he plans to move a $275 billion, six-year surface transportation reauthorization bill. 

PEF is fighting for adequate funding of the TEA-21 reauthorization and increased accountability of private contractors hired by the state Transportation Department with the federal funding.

Faster, faster!
On March 17, PEF member Mike Saxby, a disability analyst at the state Office of Disability Determinations in Albany, took part in a multi-union meeting with U.S. Deputy Commissioner Martin Gerry of the Social Security Administration (SSA) to convey PEF’s concerns about proposed changes to the determination process. 

SSA Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart proposed the changes to speed up the determination process. However, many parts of that proposal are troublesome to PEF. 

The union hopes to participate in a follow-up meeting to the one held in March with Gerry.

IT tax revenues in jeopardy
Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Thomas Carper (D-DE) are sponsoring legislation to extend the current moratorium on new taxes on Internet access for two years, rather than making the moratorium permanent. 

The Senate is locked in a debate over whether to approve House-passed legislation that would make the moratorium permanent, as well as to expand the definition of Internet access in such a way that state and local governments could lose $5 billion in tax revenues they are now receiving — money which supports schools, hospitals, law enforcement, and other important services. 

The Alexander-Carper legislation would extend the moratorium for another two years and keep basic Internet access tax-free, which was the purpose of the original 1998 law. 

PEF is opposing an expanded definition of Internet access for tax purposes, because the state needs that revenue to support existing public services.

Communicator Home June 04

Inside This Issue
Features
Contract Update: State stalls...
Take agencies out of the shadows
Law could reduce contracting-out
Keep pressure to save Fulton CF
Heroes plant feet in NH

Departments
President's Message
Member's Mailbag
Nurses' Station
Retirees In Action
Members' Highlights
Back Cover Ad
PEF Member Benefits & Travel

Union Matters
Vote: PEF’s privatization buster
Senate demands offset of...
Stopping out-of-title work in its...
Vote: privatization buster for ’04
Step in the right direction at SED
Fed. law changes bad for union
Nurses' fast response saves life
$ for prison health care workers
Law gives benefit to parole...
PI scientists’ write to the top

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