November 30, 2007
Volume #29, Issue
#40
STATE BARGAINING TO BEGIN IN EARNEST - The legislature’s Joint
Committee on Employment
Relations (JOCER) met this week and took the necessary steps for the bargaining of state
contracts to
move forward. Despite passage of the budget with the compensation reserves in tact, the
Office of State
Employment Relations (OSER) still needed JOCER to act to move ahead in negotiations with
state
employees. The action taken by JOCER at this week’s meeting was a positive step in
the bargaining
process.
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ATTACK PASSES ASSEMBLY LABOR COMMITTEE - Assembly Bill
110
passes the Assembly Labor and Industry Committee on a 5 to 3 vote on Wednesday. Assembly
Bill 110
would allow county and municipal employers to change health care coverage for employees
outside of the
collective bargaining process. All five Republicans on the committee who were in
attendance voted for the
bill, with the three Democrats voting against. The bill is now available for vote by the
full Assembly.
STATE CONTRACTING OUT UNDER REVIEW - Last week the Department of
Administration issued
their Contractual Services Purchasing Report for the fiscal year 2007. According to the
report, Wisconsin
reduced state contracting costs from $498.8 million to $419.6 million, or by over $70
million, in the last
year. This represents a 14% reduction in contracts under DOA oversight.
While this is definitely a positive development, this report tells only part of the story.
The report does not
take into account engineering projects entered into by the Department of Transportation,
leaving a
significant portion of the total contracting picture out of focus.
The report also provided a thumbnail sketch of the impacts of Wisconsin 2005 Act 89, which
requires a
cost benefit analysis of all state contracts over $25,000. Act 89 was adopted to create a
system that
made a more apples to apples comparison between the costs of contracting, versus the costs
of work
being done in-house with state employees. The information provided in the report, in
regards to the
implementation of Act 89, is insufficient to draw any significant conclusions.
However, AFSCME is compiling data from the individual cost benefit analysis that have been
conducted
since Act 89 was adopted, and the actual contracts the state is entering into. From this
data we will be able
to determine whether the state is properly entering into contracts based on the criteria
outline in Act 89, or
the extent to which excessive, unnecessary and costly contracting out is still occurring.
COMMITTEE ACTIVITY HEATING UP - With the budget now well behind us, the
legislature is getting to
the large amount of bills that piled up during the stalemate. Several committees have
already scheduled,
or plan to schedule, public hearings and executive sessions over the next few weeks. The
legislature has
a one-week session scheduled for the second week of December and will not meet again until
the middle
of January. Please watch for updates on important committee activity in the coming weeks.
LEGISLATIVE WEBSITES. . .For those
"online", here are some good info spots:
Wisconsin State Legislature: www.legis.state.wi.us/
"Who Are My Legislators": www.legis.state.wi.us./waml/
State of Wisconsin: www.wisconsin.gov/state/home
Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau: www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/
Wisconsin Legislative Council: www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/
Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau: www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb/
Wisconsin Ethics Board: http://ethics.state.wi.us