The new legislative session starts on Wednesday, January 5, so today and tomorrow the Legislature will be finishing up its business for 2009-2010. What new record will they set for the number of sick leave bank bills passed in one session?
For those of you whose vocations (or avocations) allow occasional inattention to legislative goings-on, sick leave bank bills let state employees donate sick or vacation days to a specific state employee (named in the bill’s title), who’s recovering from an extended illness or injury. Here’s an example of one. Every legislative session since 1999-2000, when four sick leave banks were created, the legislature has set a new sick leave bank record. This session, they’re at 73, having already broken the 2007-2008 record of 71.
One might think that there are more efficient and transparent ways of letting state employees help each other in these circumstances. Governor Patrick thought so. He sponsored a bill to establish uniform rules that state agencies and employees could follow so as to eliminate the need for all this special legislation. In his extremely diplomatic words, his proposal would “free legislators to focus on matters of broader policy concern.” His bill went nowhere.
One might also have thought that, especially with the corrosive atmosphere created by the Probation scandal, the Legislature would be more reticent about sick leave bank bills, since they add to the unseemly appearance that the Legislature has little better to do than look after their fellow state employees in as opaque a way as possible. But one would be wrong.
One might also have thought that the minority party would leap at the chance to make sick leave bank bills a partisan issue, shut down the assembly line and crown themselves as champions of reform. But again, one would be wrong. In fact, one of the giants in the sick leave bank world this session is Representative Todd Smola (R-Palmer), who has succeeded in getting four banks enacted and has three more in the pipeline. (Note to Rep. Smola – maybe also think about bill to test Palmer water quality?)
I’ll post this session’s final number as soon as I can get it. (And although I know that I would never find gambling going on in this establishment, my over/under is 85.)
Rep. George Peterson also introduced sick bank reform legislation in at LEAST two prior session, before Patrick was elected. I can’t find the bills on the sucky new site, but they were introduced. Peterson wanted to make each agency head responsible for administrating within each agency, and eliminate the legislation altogether. None of his bills ever got past Third Reading (oddly enough, chaired then by now-Speaker Robert DeLeo).
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p>Informal feedback was that legislaors liked it because it showed them ‘doing something’ for constituents. Cost of processing bills, time and money wasted, were not a factor.
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p>What exactly is the relationship between the EILB (Employee Illness Leave Bank) and these bills? You can join the EILB by donating at least one day to the bank to be eligible in case you need extended leave. You can also donate time upon retirement or leaving employ. Are these ‘special’ bills for the employees who DIDN’T enroll and donate, but now want the bennies anyway?
The Extended Illness Leave Bank is for Executive Branch employees only, and the maximum withdrawal is 120 days in a 2-year period. So I’d imagine that these “special bills” cover: (1) state employees who work outside the Executive Branch, (2) Executive Branch employees who have used up their 120 day maximums, and (3) people you describe in the last sentence of your post.
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p>The informal feedback from legislators you described sounds right to me. Too bad, but “doing something” for some constituents this way engenders cynicism.
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p>If you can narrow the timeframe for Rep. Peterson’s bill a little, I’ll try to track it down. I take it it wasn’t a budget amendment?
The link to an example sick bank bill doesn’t work. It takes you to the list of all acts passed in 2010.
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p>Here is an example.
Thanks for letting me know and sorry for the inconvenience.