This is the Federation Hotline updated Feb. 14.
Priority bill for DOC members passes House
The state House yesterday (Feb. 13) unanimously passed the peer-support counselor bill called for by our DOC members.
HB 2611 would give Community Corrections officers and specialists the same post-incident privileged communications protections as other law enforcement officers when talking to peer support counselors.
HB 2611 passed the House Tuesday on a vote of 98-0. It now goes to the Senate.
Today is floor cutoff deadline
Today is the deadline for most House bills to pass the House and most Senate bills to pass the Senate.
The next major cutoff deadline comes next week. On Feb. 23, most House bills must pass Senate committees, and most Senate bills must pass House committees. The exceptions are bills in House fiscal committees and Senate Ways & Means and Transportation committees; they have until Monday, Feb. 26 to pass out bills. Expect those committees to be working the weekend of Feb. 24 and 25.
Expect a lot of committee hearings starting tomorrow.
Also tomorrow, the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council https://erfc.wa.gov/meetings meets at 11 a.m. Thursday to adopt the state’s latest revenue forecast.
When they did this in Wisconsin, they promised it would raise pay. Guess what? They lied.
You’re hearing a lot of talk about the oral arguments in the Janus case on Feb. 26 before the United States Supreme Court.
The Janus case would take away our freedoms to join together to negotiate good wages and benefits to sustain our families.
The worst case is the high court would make what happened in Wisconsin starting in 2011 the law of the land. And here in Washington, too.
According to The Stand, state employees in Wisconsin were promised a rosy future when their voices and negotiating rights were restricted. Instead, they got pay cuts. Health and pension costs increased. Many lost jobs. Caseloads increased.
So we’ve created an online “Lost-Wage Calculator” that shows how much you’d lose if the United States Supreme Court makes the Wisconsin model the law of the land and here in Washington, too. Go to our Facebook.com/WFSEc28 and look for the post at the top of the feed.
Many of you have already used the calculator. All have been stunned by how badly the Janus case could hurt our families.
This is real.
In our state, Federation members and our contracts that benefit us all are already under attack. Some lawmakers in Olympia proposed a bill this session to shred our negotiated health care agreement and make us pay 33% more for our health care (HB 2869). And we’re working at the Legislature and state courts to keep your dates of birth private to protect the safety and security of you and your families. Just yesterday, the Seattle Times once again took to its editorial page to attack that effort to protect the safety and security of state employees at work and their families at home; once again, the Times did not disclose that they’ve taken sides against us at the Washington State Supreme Court by filing a “friend of the court” brief in favor of making your dates of birth public. Janus would only make it worse.
The last thing Washington’s working families need is an assault on the freedom to join together in our strong union and speak up for ourselves, our families and our communities. Facebook.com/WFSEc28
That’s it for now.
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