PEF-backed bills running gubernatorial gauntlet
By SHERRY HALBROOK
About half of the bills supported by PEF that passed both houses of the state Legislature this year had been sent to the governor by mid-August and roughly half of those were signed into law.
One of the public accountability reforms PEF sought — restrictions on procurement lobbying — was sent to the governor August 11, but he has not acted on it yet, as this magazine goes to press.
According to PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran, this bill — A.8964/S.5873 — was introduced in the final days of the legislative session at the governor’s request, so it is likely to be signed.
PEF’s other Go Public bill that passed both houses would require state agencies to report how many contract employees they have and how much it costs. That legislation is waiting to be sent to the governor.
Thumbs up
The bills that have been signed include:
- A.2347/S.1217 extends for another two years the rights of public employee unions to receive dues and agency fees through automatic payroll
deductions.
- A.2351/S.1215 extends for another two years the procedure which allows public employee unions to seek injunctions in improper-practice cases when irreparable harm might otherwise occur.
- A.4249A/S.2165A would extend for another two years the supplements for state pensions and certain other existing retirement provisions.
- A.6623A/S.3598 increases the assessments on public works contracts, and requires that at least $2.4 million of these combined assessments be used by the state Labor Department
(DOL) for enforcement of the prevailing wage law.
It also requires the DOL to report on enforcement annually to the Legislature.
- A.8291/S.5436 gives the survivors of eligible public employees in NYS who die or who give their lives while on active military duty the same death benefits that would have applied if the employee died while working as a public employee.
The legislation will also reimburse public employees actively serving in the NYS National Guard for the cost of premiums for $250,000 of Service Members’ General Life Insurance.
- A.8476B/S.5587 allows members of the National Guard and reserves to take civil service competitive exams even if they missed the deadline to apply for the exam because of military duty. If their military duty prevents them from taking a scheduled competitive exam, they may take a “make-up” exam.
Thumbs down
So far, the governor has vetoed the following bills that PEF supported:
• A.3216B/S.5758 would have prohibited the diminution of health insurance benefits of public employee retirees and their dependents or reducing the employer’s contributions for that insurance from May 1, 2005 until May 15, 2006.
• A.7195/S.2873 would have allowed those state PS&T employees who are members of the Teachers Retirement System (mainly those working at the Education Department, including those at the state schools for the deaf and blind), to add service credit for up to 200 days of unused sick leave when they retire.
Other PS&T employees, who are in the NYS & Local Employees Retirement System already have this benefit which is provided in the PS&T contract.
• A.7616/S.3182 would have required the state to use reverse seniority (least senior first) when involuntarily reassigning employees to a different geographic region.
• A.8970 would have increased the cap on investments allowed by public pension funds.
The
Communicator September 05
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