The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is back, folks. House Republicans passed an ALEC-inspired Voter ID constitutional amendment last night, which would do nothing but make it harder for law-abiding citizens to vote. Today, ALEC is taking over the House State Government Innovation and Veterans Committee–with four bills copied from the ALEC playbook scheduled to be heard.
ALEC is a secretive, corporate-funded conservative organization that brings together hundreds of corporate lobbyists and thousands of state legislators. ALEC allows legislators to essentially outsource drafting legislation to corporate lobbyists, ensuring that legislation introduced across the country benefits large corporations, not middle-class Americans. [Common Cause MN, 01/17/12]
ALEC’s “model legislation” is often cut and pasted verbatim and introduced at state Capitols around the country. Minnesota is no exception.
The State Government Innovation and Veterans will convene at 1:00pm and among the ALEC bills is HF 1850. Sen. Ortman wants to amend the employee gainsharing system (an ALEC budget reform toolkit recommendation) to increase the maximum award.
|
The commissioner shall establish a program to provide onetime bonus compensation to state employees for efforts made to reduce the costs of operating state government or for ways of providing better or more efficient state services. |
Develop a program (or programs) for state employees to allow them to be rewarded for savings generated by new innovations or re-engineering of existing business practices.. |
The next ALEC-inspired bill being heard is HF 1812, which removes the requirement that before an agency seeks out a private waste contractor, it must first verify that no state employee is able and available to provide the services needed. This is, quite simply, an attack on public workers.
|
Notwithstanding section 16C.08, 16C.09, 43A.047, or other law to contrary, the commissioner may enter into or approve a service contract for waste removal without determining that no current state employee is able or available to perform the services called for by this contract. |
Increase the use of privatization and competitive contracting to execute tasks to lower costs and improve the quality of service provided. |
The third ALEC bill the State Government Innovation and Veterans Commitee will hear today is Sen. Thompson’s SF 2090. Sen. Thompson claims he is not a member of ALEC, but in addition to authoring two of the four ALEC bills heard in this committee today, Sen. Thompson is also the author of the unsafe, unfair and unnecessary ALEC-inspired Right to Work constitutional amendment.
| ALEC State Budget Reform Toolkit Recommendation | |
|
(b) In addition to paragraph (a), the agency must certify that: (1) no current state employee is able and available to perform the services called for by the contract; |
Increase the use of privatization and competitive contracting to execute tasks to lower costs and improve the quality of service provided. |
|
(7) in the event the results of the contract work will be carried out or continued by state employees upon completion of the contract, the contractor is required to include state employees in development and training, to the extent necessary to ensure that after completion of the contract, state employees can perform any ongoing work related to the same function; and (8) the agency will not contract out its previously eliminated jobs for four years without first considering the same former employees who are on the seniority unit layoff list who meet the minimum qualifications determined by the agency. |
|
|
(a) Before entering into or approving a service contract, the commissioner must determine, at least, that: (1) no current state employee is able and available to perform the services called for by the contract; |
|
|
(b) For purposes of paragraph (a), clause (1), employees are available if qualified and: (1) are already doing the work in question; or (2) are on layoff status in classes that can do the work in question. An employee is not available if the employee is doing other work, is retired, or has decided not to do the work in question. |
|
The last and final ALEC bill that will be heard today is one we’ve mentioned before: what Republicans call the “Equal Pay and Benefits Act.”
|
(b) By July 1, 2013, each legislative and executive branch employer must implement compensation for each position for its employees that, as nearly as practicable, is comparable to the compensation of private sector positions with similar skill, effort, responsibilities, and working conditions, as determined by the commissioner under paragraph (a). |
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the year to year annual percentage increase in average annual compensation per full time equivalent employee of any government entity shall not exceed the annual percentage increase in average compensation per employee of the private sector in the state for the corresponding period. In the event that average compensation per employee of the private sector declines on a year-to-year basis, the average annual compensation per full time equivalent employee of any government entity shall decline by at least the same percentage. |
|
Subdivision 1. Future compensation. (a) The commissioner of management and budget must contract for a compensation study for legislative and executive branch position descriptions. The study must compare the total compensation, including salary and benefits, of each position description with positions in the private sector in which the skill, effort, responsibilities, and working conditions are similar. The commissioner must report the results of the study by March 1, 2013. |
Each government entity shall file an Employee Compensation Report with the (state fiscal officer) for each fiscal year, no later than 180 days following the end of each fiscal year in the form of specified in Schedule A (attached). |
|
Subdivision 1. Future compensation. (a) The commissioner of management and budget must contract for a compensation study for legislative and executive branch position descriptions. The study must compare the total compensation, including salary and benefits, of each position description with positions in the private sector in which the skill, effort, responsibilities, and working conditions are similar. The commissioner must report the results of the study by March 1, 2013. |
Everything should be on the table, including changes in benefits and increased employee contribution rates, as well as employer contribution rates. Most importantly, states should consider replacing their defined-benefit plans with defined-contribution (401k style) plans for new employees. |
As you can see, Minnesota Republicans are working as hard as ever to pass ALEC’s pro-corporate, anti-worker agenda. Our elected officials should be working for us, not for corporate special interests.
Photo credit: Flickr
