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New Budget Forecast, New Round of Cuts
1st Healthcare Negotiaions Team meeting
Next Legislative Policy Committee Mtg -- March 24th
Labor Union Bill Raises Broader Capitalism Issues
State Employees News
Colorado WINS Committee on the Future
Our Committee on the Future has been diligently working to draft Colorado WINS Constitution and Bylaws.
A representative and hard-working group, members of the Committee on the Future dedicated their Saturdays all summer to create a document that would be inclusive of all Colorado WINS members.
They started with the fundamentals of who we are, Colorado WINS Pillars:
Growth: We will work to break down barriers, inspire participation and build a strong vibrant unions.
Empowerment: We will promote positive grassroots changes throughout our state by educating and engaging our members and community.
Opportunity: We are dedicated to creating a healthy environment for a prosperous Colorado through innovative collaboration with government, private enterprise, and local communities.
Justice: We seek mutual respect, equality, and liberty to build caring communities that are models of fairness to all.
Stewardship: We will work to ensure the proper, effective use of government
resources through honest communication, negotiation, and political action.
To read the pledge that committee members signed, please see COF Pledge.
To read more, please see Committee on the Future.
Colorado Lags Behind 46 States on Key Investments
The Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute (COFPI) released new data today updating the nonprofit organization's 2007 report, Aiming for the Middle: Benchmarks for Colorado's Future.
The new numbers show what you already know: that Colorado continues to fall behind other states in key investment areas such as education, health care, higher education, and transportation. Additionally, the new numbers do not yet reflect the impact of the recession, and raise concerns about Colorado's ability to recover with our current fiscal system.
- Colorado ranks 47th in total state expenditures per $1000 of personal income
- Colorado ranks 48th for investment in public education per $1000 of personal income
- Colorado ranks 49th for investment in covering families under Medicaid per $1000 of personal income
- Colorado ranks 48th for higher education per $1000 of personal income
- Colorado ranks 48th for transportation and highways investment per $1000 of personal income
For more information, please see The Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute.
WINS Members Testify Before the JBC
Colorado WINS members Marie Burks (Revenue) and Sheldon Reneau (Corrections) testified before the Joint Budget Committee Monday afternoon. WINs General Counsel Mark Schwane and Terry Campbell, who represents the state troopers, also spoke to lawmakers about the state budget and impacts on front line employees.
At the Capitol, members of the JBC are the front line in the legislature's battle with the budget. Earlier the same day, JBC members heard the forecast for the upcoming fiscal years in which they may need to cut as much as $384 million. By speaking to them right after they heard the forecast, we had an opportunity to emphasize how important it is for state employees to have a voice in finding solutions.
Sen. Abel Tapia, for one, understood. "You know more about the nuances than we do," Tapia said. "With the partnership agreement, getting you inovled, it is the right mechanism."
WINS Member Lucretia Robinson Announces Candidacy
Corrections officer announces candidacy council
By JAMES AMOS
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Lucretia Robinson says Pueblo needs more for its young people to do, and she wants to make that happen.
Robinson announced Saturday that she is running for one of two at-large seats on the Pueblo City Council. She made the announcement at the Juneteenth Celebration at the Colorado State Fairgrounds.
Giving her age as "in my 50s," Robinson is a corrections officer and counselor at the state's Youthful Offender System prison.
To read more: Pueblo Chieftain.
Budget forecast: Colorado's faces $250M shortfall
State faces $250M budget shortfall
By Tim Hoover
The Denver Post
Lawmakers received an expected — though still hard-to-swallow — dose of bad news this morning as they learned that the state faces a $250 million shortfall in the fiscal year ending June 30, and will have to borrow from next year's budget to cover the shortfall.
Essentially, it means the state must fill a $384 million hole for the budget year that begins July 1.
Members of the legislature's Joint Budget Committee said it's almost certain that for the 2010-11 and 201-12 budget years, the state will once gain have to eliminate a property tax break break for seniors that totals nearly $100 million per year. And it likely means that cuts to public school spending are on the horizon.
To read the whole story: Denver Post.
NY Times Story on States Responding to Budget Crisis
States Turning to Last Resorts in Budget Crisis
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
In Hawaii, state employees are bracing for furloughs of three days a month over the next two years, the equivalent of a 14 percent pay cut. In Idaho, lawmakers reduced aid to public schools for the first time in recent memory, forcing pay cuts for teachers.
And in California, where a $24 billion deficit for the coming fiscal year is the nation’s worst, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed releasing thousands of prisoners early and closing more than 200 state parks.
Meanwhile, Maine is adding taxes on candy and ski tickets, Wisconsin on oil companies, and Kentucky on alcohol and cellphone ring tones.
With state revenues in a free fall and the economy choked by the worst recession in 60 years, governors and legislatures are approving program cuts, layoffs and, to a smaller degree, tax increases that were previously unthinkable.
To read the whole story: NY Times story.
Singly None, John Hummel's Response to the Post
by John Hummel
Step by step the longest march can be won, can be won.
Many stones to form an arch, singly none, singly none.
And by Union, what we will can be accomplished still.
Drops of water turn a mill, singly none, singly none.
--From the 1890 Preamble to the Constitution
of the United Mineworkers Association;
also a traditional union song.
Last week I was asked to speak on behalf of our association to a reporter from the Denver Post. The reporter was seeking comment from Colorado WINS about state plans for at least four unpaid furlough days during the next fiscal year.
In the interview, I expressed our membership’s concern about the impact on state services to the people of Colorado that would result from the lost work time associated with furlough days. I stated that we recognize that the current extraordinary fiscal crisis requires budget cuts, and that if furloughs are determined to be necessary as a part of implementing those cuts, Colorado WINS members will do our part. I did not concede the point that furloughs are the first, only, or even necessary solution to cutting the budget.
DOR Negotiating Team Holds Special Elections for DMV
The Colorado WINS Department of Revenue Negotiating Team is holding a special election to fill two vacancies within the Division of Motor Vehicles. To become a candidate:
1) Be a member of Colorado WINS and a Department of Revenue employee within the Division of Motor Vehicles;
2) Submit completed candidacy form;
3) Submit signatures of 10 supportive coworkers;
4) Submit a single-page or less personal biography and statement of purpose that will be distributed to DMV employees.
All must be submitted via email or to a WINS organizer by June 5.
Click here to download and print the candidate materials. Then fax your forms to 303-937-6471.'
For more information, please contact Devon Canode at Devon.Canode@cowins.org or 303-350-0151.
First Legislative Session With Colorado WINS Wraps Up
Across the country, state governments are laying off staff and slashing salaries. But not in Colorado. We avoided the worst of this horrible economy because state employees worked together through Colorado WINS to save jobs and services.
In December, Colorado WINS members told the Joint Budget Committee that department budgets were already razor-thin and that state employees made sacrifices even in good years.
In February, when Rep. Steve King proposed legislation mandating up to 12 furlough days for all state workers, Colorado WINS members showed up again and persuaded King’s committee to reject his bill unanimously.
But the Long Bill, or the state budget, was more complicated. For much of the process, we were able to stave off the worst cuts. The March Revenue forecast and a failed attempt to move funds from Pinnacol put additional cuts back on the table.
In the end, we didn’t get everything we wanted, but we received a $14M increase to cover the rise in our health insurance premiums, avoided layoffs and fought off the extensive furlough days that other state’s employees are seeing. When some legislators called for a 5% salary reduction for state employees, we made sure they heard our voice.
We called Senators. We called Representatives. And we called the Governor Ritter when we needed to.
The final budget calls for 1.82 percent savings from personal services. Ritter is directing each department to issue four furlough days to the employees that can be furloughed.
This won’t make up the full savings and that means its time to put our Partnership to the test. To find the rest, departments will work in partnership with us through Interest-Based Bargaining. Frontline employees have the expertise to determine the least painful cuts so we need to stay involved, stand together and speak with one voice.
WINS' Members Action At the Capitol
With our calls, emails and testimony, we worked to pass some bills and to kill others. Here’s the final score:
Passed
The Long Bill, aka the Budget, grants flexibility to departments to find savings.
HB 1341—Extends Psychiatric Technician licensing for 10 years.
HB 1366-- Eliminates capital gains exemption.
SB 88—Creates domestic partnership health benefits for same-sex couples.
SB 228—Repeals outdated and arbitrary budget formula known as Arveschoug-Bird.
Killed
HB 1221—Would have mandated up to 12 furlough days.
SB 121—Would have eliminated licensing for psych techs.
SB 255—Could have led to outsourcing of state IT jobs.
Amended
SB 56--Retained the possibility of continuing PERA benefits for current workers at Trinidad Nursing Home
SB 244—Includes state employees in health insurance coverage for autism.