PEF backed bills await governors action
By SHERRY HALBROOK
The Legislature’s months of deadlock over education funding and the state budget also blocked the progress of many bills this year.
Nevertheless, more than 20 bills supported by PEF made it through the logjam and were passed by both the state Assembly and Senate. And no bills PEF opposed have made it through the Legislature.
Several of those that passed have been sent to the governor for his signature or veto.
Signed into law
By mid-August he had signed two of the bills into law:
• S.5893/A.9349,which boosts to $27,500 the maximum annual income retired public employees can earn without reducing their pensions, effective this year; and
• S.6300A/A.10221, which expands the rights of retired public employees to authorize automatic pension deductions of voluntary contributions to union-sponsored political committees.
Vetoed by governor
Five of the bills PEF backed have been vetoed:
• S.6729/A.10289, which would have required the state to give 12-months advance notice before closing or reducing state services to children and families;
• S.6398/A.9878, which would have required the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities to give at least 12-months advance notice before closing or reducing its services;
• S.6213/A10290, which would have both prohibited private operation or management of secure state facilities for youths, and required state use of employees to provide the security services at such facilities;
• S.6366/A.5921, which would have strengthened the Public Employment Relations Board’s power to impose punitive damages for severe or repeated violations of the state Taylor Law;
• S.7682.A/A.11760A, which would have gradually raised the minimum wage in New York by $2 over three years, from the current hourly rate of $5.15 to $7.15.
The Assembly has voted to override the governor’s veto of the boost to minimum wage, but, so far, the Senate has not taken up such a motion.
Fate unknown
The status of one bill that was sent to the governor in July is still not known.
S2101/A.6927 would give state employees up to four hours off work per year to undergo screening for prostate cancer, without charging their accrued leave.
Although the time has expired for the governor to veto the bill, his office has not reported how he dealt with this legislation and did not return a call from The Communicator by press time inquiring about the bill’s status.
Cleared legislative hurdles
Other bills PEF supported that passed, but have yet to be sent to the governor are:
• S.6368A/A.4966A, which would restrict the geographic reassignment of state employees;
• S.772/A.8231, which would make it an unfair labor practice to give permanent status to replacement workers doing bargaining-unit work;
• S.3948/A.5983, which would allow arbitrators and attorneys in public-sector-labor arbitrations to issue subpoenas;
• S.6215A/A.9812A, which would grant public employees, who are permanent in their present job, a mandatory leave of absence and hold on it in order to become probationary in another position, and the right to return to the held position at the end of that probation;
• S.6790/A.10216, which would extend the minimum leave period to two years for public employees injured on the job;
• S.2458/A8187A, which would require the state Labor Department to report annually on its investigations of health and safety complaints by state employees;
• S.2027B/A.4421B, which would require state institutions and buildings to be equipped with automatic electrocardio defibrillators;
• S.6503A/A.10887, which would allow members of the NYS and Local Employees Retirement System to change their retirement-benefit option for up to 30 days after their first pension pay date;
• S.978/A.5921, which would allow retired public employees to authorize regular contributions to federated community campaigns to be deducted from their pension checks;
• S.5463C/A.4869B, which would require the state to give 12 months prior notice before closing or significantly reducing state correctional facility services or staffing;
• S.7718/A.11803, which would require the state to give 12 months prior notice before closing a state correctional facility;
• S.973A/A.4962A, which would establish clear legislative policy to protect public retirees’ health insurance from May 1, 2004, through May 15, 2005; and
• S.7719/A.11801, which would implement pay raises and other terms of the new PS&T contract, subject to its ratification by PEF members.
Lawmakers’ budget late, but better
By SHERRY HALBROOK
It was the latest New York state budget ever, but it was largely worth the wait since it reflects many of the changes from the Executive Budget proposal that PEF has urged.
The governor could use his line-item veto however, to reverse some of the ground PEF gained in the legislation passed by state lawmakers in early August.
Possible veto targets include the restoration of $12 billion to keep three state correctional facilities — Camp McGregor, Camp Pharsalia and Fulton — open and running at their present levels.
Another possible target is a $2.1 million restoration to the state Education Department budget that could save approximately 30 of the 100 jobs jeopardized by the governor’s Executive Budget proposal.
“Some of the actions most important to PEF that the Legislature took in passing this budget cannot be reversed by the governor,” said PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran. “These are mainly measures the governor wants to take, but which require legislative approval that has been denied.”
A preliminary review of the budget legislation indicates the lawmakers:
• Denied permission to close Middletown Psychiatric Center;
• Rejected creation of a state Commission on Closures of NYS Psychiatric Centers;
• Rejected authorizing the state University of NY Board of Trustees to transfer SUNY hospitals to the private sector; and
• Rejected transferring the state Library, Archives and Museum to a public-benefit corporation.
The Legislature also chose the state comptroller’s proposal over the governor’s for helping public employers make their payments to the state pension system. PEF supported the comptroller’s plan as properly meeting state constitutional requirements and better ensuring the pension fund’s continuing viability.
PEF is watching closely to see how the governor deals with the budget bills that were passed. Meanwhile, the union is studying the further implications of those bills on state services.
The
Communicator September 04
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