Friday, March 7, 2008
- Bud Elder
This is may take on this issue:
HB 3108 is a concerning bill and one that every state employee should be watching. The employee benefit allowance that we receive has been in the sights of the legislature for the last few years and is drawing a lot of attention this year. The excess amount of the benefit allowance that employees don't use directly for insurance purposes is included with their paycheck. A lot of us use the amount to cover health insurance expenses like co-pays etc and contribute it to health care spending accounts, so it’s still really going for healthcare.
For those employees who have been around awhile and have seen how it works, you know that the benefit allowance changes each year and as a result so does whether or not you have any excess benefit allowance left over after you've paid for your insurance options. For me, some years I've had an excess amount left over and some years I have not.
OPEA states that they are “NEGOTIATING" with Ron Peterson on this HB 3108. Some state employees are taking issue with OPEA's position, but before they do, they should consider the following facts:
1) The legislature, including Ron Peterson are under no obligation to negotiate with anyone regarding legislative matters. They are charged with the task of making law and are not required to ask any group or any individual state employee how this bill or any other would affect them. They can make a law without any input. Mr. Peterson and the rest of the legislature can pass this bill without any additional compensation to state employees.
2) OPEA is an organization that is made up of several thousand state employees and lobbies on behalf of the interest of all state employees whether or not those employees pay dues. The majority, if not all of the staff at OPEA are former state employees who still have a vested interest in seeing that state employees are well taken care of.
The 34,000+ state employees need to have a unified voice in responding to issues such as this, and OPEA is the best choice by which to get this voice amplified. OPEA is at the capital every day and has frequent contact with legislators so that the voice of state employees can be heard directly. OPEA's agenda is mandated by the state employees it’s employed to serve. The saying, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" would seem to apply here. The legislature can either be a friend or an enemy to state employees. In either case, I would say keeping them close by way of contact through OPEA is the way to go.
I definitely don't want to lose any pay I'm currently receiving but because the excess benefit amount can change each year, and some years there may not be any excess amount at all, I am interested in possible alternatives and most assuredly want to have a voice in this process. OPEA is the clear choice for that and is working hard to see that state employees have the best outcome on this bill as well as any other bill that would potentially affect us.
I would invite state employees to consider joining OPEA if they have not already done so and to come to the OPEA Lobby Day at the state capital on 3/11/08. As state employees, if we do nothing we will lose out big time.