Out of work? Too bad, pal
House flushes $38 million in federal funds, turns back on Wyoming unemployed
Wyomingites who lost their jobs in the Great Recession were told by a majority of Wyoming House members today to find work. The House rejected House Bill 244 – Unemployment insurance amendments on a 25-34 vote.
The House majority sent this message despite seven straight quarters of decline in new business formation in Wyoming. Moreover, from June 2008 to June 2010, Wyoming lost 15,200 jobs, according to Wyoming Department of Employment statistics.
The defeat of HB 244 means Wyoming will not see close to $38 million in available federal funds circulate through our economy. Instead, workers who fall into poverty when their benefits run out will be forced to turn to programs such as Medicaid and food stamps to take care of their families – programs whose growth disturbs many of the same legislators who voted against HB 244.
The bill would have brought about $24 million in extended unemployment insurance benefits for 13 weeks to workers who exhaust their ordinary unemployment benefits between March 15, 2011 and Jan. 1, 2012. Sponsor Rep. Cathy Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) said the measure, funded fully by the federal government following Congress’ December decision to again fund extended benefits, would help 7,500 workers survive the recession after losing their jobs through no fault of their own.
Take a look at the arithmetic: $24 million divided by 7,500 workers divided by 13 weeks of extended benefits means the average check for a worker getting these benefits would be less than $250 per week, hardly a gravy train. It’s difficult to provide food and housing for a single person on that income; supporting a family of four would not be possible in Wyoming.
The bill also would have changed state unemployment insurance law to enable the state to tap another $14.2 million in American Restoration and Recovery Act funds. About $5 million of that money would have financed the expansion of the base period used to calculate eligibility for the insurance. More workers would have been eligible.
Another $9.2 million would have been available to pay for benefits to unemployed workers who enrolled in state-approved training programs that would give them the skills needed to move into other occupations where the state has projected jobs will be available in the future.
A legislator who owns a coffee shop admitted she formerly was a critic of people receiving unemployment benefits, but she now gets 100 applicants when she advertises a single position, showing that there are a lot of people out there looking for work.
But the argument that the program is “a hand up, not a hand out” for people who want to work carried no weight.
Instead, the House resounded with tales of fraud and little sympathy for the unemployed, saying that unemployment benefits reduce the incentive to look for work.
Private contractors and construction union lobbyists joined forces to advocate for the bill as a way to address unemployment in the construction sector, which is hovering near 20%, but to no avail.
Here’s the roll call vote in today’s House vote on HB 244. Take a close look:
Ayes: Representative(s) Barbuto, Berger, Blake, Blikre, Botten, Burkhart, Byrd, Campbell, Connolly, Craft, Esquibel, K., Freeman, Goggles, Greear, Greene, Harshman, Krone, McOmie, Patton, Petroff, Roscoe, Steward, Throne, Vranish and Zwonitzer, Dn..
Nays: Representative(s) Bonner, Brechtel, Brown, Buchanan, Cannady, Childers, Davison, Edmonds, Eklund, Gay, Gingery, Harvey, Hunt, Illoway, Jaggi, Kasperik, Kroeker, Lockhart, Loucks, Lubnau, Madden, McKim, Miller, Moniz, Nicholas B, Peasley, Pederson, Petersen, Quarberg, Semlek, Stubson, Teeters, Wallis and Zwonitzer, Dv..
Excused: Representative(s) Shepperson
Ayes 25 Nays 34 Excused 1 Absent 0 Conflicts 0
Showing posts with label Rep. Cathy Connolly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rep. Cathy Connolly. Show all posts
Monday, February 7, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Saturday roundup
Labor, industry back changes in unemployment insurance that make re-training an option
Bill taps millions in federal funding to help those seeking work
By Dan Neal and Sarah Gorin
Unemployed Wyoming workers who want training in skills that could open doors to other jobs will get a boost if a bill to extend long-term unemployment benefits becomes law. Both industry and labor support the bill.
Rep. Cathy Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) sponsored HB 244 – Unemployment insurance amendments.
It will change state statutes to enable Wyoming to take advantage of the extension of long-term unemployment benefits approved by Congress in December. The extension will allow currently unemployed workers to qualify for 13 more weeks of benefits through January 12, 2012. Connolly thinks up to 7,500 unemployed workers could benefit from that extension.
The bill also allows the state to tap $14.2 million in federal funding authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In order to qualify, the state would change its law to allow unemployed workers in approved training programs to continue to receive their unemployment insurance checks.
It also would change the base period to allow more workers to qualify for unemployment insurance benefits.
Wyoming Contractors Association Executive Director Jonathon Downing testified in favor of the bill, calling it “a hand up, not a hand-out.” The Contractors Association offers training to people to get them into other trades. Union locals also offer training.
The training is intense, however, and unemployed workers in nearly every situation would have to forgo unemployment insurance benefits because they do not have time to look for work. The system can force a worker to choose between the benefits needed to feed and clothe his or her family or the training that could open a door to another job or career.
AFL-CIO Executive Secretary Kim Floyd said the change to allow people to receive benefits while training “is an incredible option.” He noted that while Wyoming’s overall employment rate stands at more than 6.5%, unemployment in the construction trades stands at about 21%. “We’ve got a lot of people sitting on the bench.” (Quick aside: This is one of the reasons that the unions and the contractors association have joined forces to push legislation that could mean more state work for resident contractors who hire resident workers. Most state-funded highway and capital construction contracts have gone to contractors from outside the state, Floyd says.)
Joan Evans, director of the Department of Workforce Services, noted the simple extension of benefits will help people who have not been able to find work. “There are some people in desperate situations right now,” she told the committee.
Evans noted the ARRA funds offer important help to the department because they include $1 million for reprogramming to upgrade state administrative systems to handle changes in the law, such as the change in the base period of work used to calculate benefits. When she noted the state system currently uses COBOL programming, a buzz rippled around the committee room. Downing said later it has been many years since he heard of anyone using COBOL.
Addressing committee member concerns about continuing costs to the state after the ARRA funds are used, Downing said the legislature might have to repeal the changes later. Connolly asked the committee to consider the bill as a “pilot project” that will enable the state to use federal funds to evaluate the value of the changes.
The House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee amended the bill to delete several pages, including a section that would have allowed payment of benefits when a worker loses a job because his or her spouse’s job requires a change in location. At the urging of Rep. Dan Zwonitzer (R-HD43, Cheyenne) the committee also approved an amendment requiring the department to report on the costs and effects of the changes in by Nov. 15.
“That way we can fix our computer system and see if we want to change the law back,” Zwonitzer said.
House leadership referred the bill to be heard by the House Appropriations Committee Monday. The bill must be heard in the House Committee of the Whole by the end of the day Monday or it dies for the year. If that happens, the state loses the opportunity to tap the ARRA funds. States have until Aug. 22, 2011 to submit their applications to the U.S. Department of Labor to certify that they comply with the specific provisions of the ARRA’s incentive funding program.
“Validity” of Marriage
HB 74 – Validity of marriage was heard by the Senate Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Cultural Resources Committee. Opponents argued that the bill violates Equal Protection rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, voids legal contracts, and puts in doubt the status of legally married same-sex couples and their children.
House Majority Floor Leader Tom Lubnau pooh-poohed the criticism of the bill so loudly heard while it made its way through the House. “I don’t see this as a monumental civil rights battle,” he said.
Kiefer Partridge, a UW student and member of the WyWatch Political Action Committee, supported the bill, saying that state law should be biblically sound. According to Partridge, the concept of separation of church and state was meant to protect churches from the state, not to exclude churches from advocating for religiously-derived policy.
That’s a long stretch from the idea that separation of church and state prevents the adherents of one church or religion from using the state to impose their credo on the faithful of another belief or on people who follow no religion.
Tax on Wind Power Whirling Around
HB 191 – Wind power taxation narrowly passed Committee of the Whole, 28-24. Opponents said it takes too long – 20 years – to phase-in the $3 per megawatt hour (MWH) tax on power generated by wind farms already constructed in the state. They also claimed the bill is not ready, since sponsors said they would have to bring major amendments in subsequent readings.
The ESPC supports the existing wind tax structure, which imposes both sales tax and a MWH tax (although the MWH tax could be higher!). HB 191 “finances” sales tax via a higher MWH tax, which places some risk on the state if anticipated wind power development does not actually happen. Moreover, the sloooowwww phase-in of the MWH tax on existing projects is unjustified, as these projects never paid sales tax due to an exemption that expired at the end of 2010.
Data Not Needed
The bill extending an existing sales and use tax exemption for purchases of manufacturing equipment, HB 143 - Manufacturing tax exemption, passed the Senate Revenue Committee 4-1 last Thursday.
As in the House, economic development organizations and manufacturers lined up to say how much they like the tax exemption, and asserted that new taxes generated by development make up for the loss in sales and use tax collections: $53 million and growing since the exemption was enacted six years ago.
The ESPC, which opposed the tax exemption from the beginning and advocated successfully for the first follow-up reporting on a tax exemption, went through this year’s report on the exemption. It shows that the percentage of manufacturing jobs in Wyoming has gone down slightly since the tax exemption began, and that the absolute number of manufacturing jobs went up only slightly, but went down with the recession.
The report also shows while manufacturing wages are higher than in other economic sectors, part-time employees in manufacturing receive fewer benefits than part-time employees in other sectors.
Finally, the report notes that most of the benefit of the tax exemption has gone to a handful of manufacturers, principally the state’s two major refineries, Frontier Refining in Cheyenne and the Sinclair refinery. The ESPC collected data from the Laramie and Carbon county assessors to show that property tax data did not support the assertion that the sales tax exemption was made up for by increases in other tax revenues.
Senator Case asked most of the proponents why manufacturing should get a sales and use tax exemption but not other types of businesses. This question was raised in the ESPC’s testimony as well, a particularly pertinent one given the complete absence of any concrete documentation of the exemption’s benefits.
Chairman John Hines (R-S23, Gillette) and Senators Paul Barnard (R-S15, Evanston), Fred Emerich (R-S5, Cheyenne) and Drew Perkins (S-29, Casper) voted for the bill; Senator Cale Case (R-S25, Lander) cast the dissenting vote.
Participate
Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.
Bill taps millions in federal funding to help those seeking work
By Dan Neal and Sarah Gorin
Unemployed Wyoming workers who want training in skills that could open doors to other jobs will get a boost if a bill to extend long-term unemployment benefits becomes law. Both industry and labor support the bill.
Rep. Cathy Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) sponsored HB 244 – Unemployment insurance amendments.
It will change state statutes to enable Wyoming to take advantage of the extension of long-term unemployment benefits approved by Congress in December. The extension will allow currently unemployed workers to qualify for 13 more weeks of benefits through January 12, 2012. Connolly thinks up to 7,500 unemployed workers could benefit from that extension.
The bill also allows the state to tap $14.2 million in federal funding authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In order to qualify, the state would change its law to allow unemployed workers in approved training programs to continue to receive their unemployment insurance checks.
It also would change the base period to allow more workers to qualify for unemployment insurance benefits.
Wyoming Contractors Association Executive Director Jonathon Downing testified in favor of the bill, calling it “a hand up, not a hand-out.” The Contractors Association offers training to people to get them into other trades. Union locals also offer training.
The training is intense, however, and unemployed workers in nearly every situation would have to forgo unemployment insurance benefits because they do not have time to look for work. The system can force a worker to choose between the benefits needed to feed and clothe his or her family or the training that could open a door to another job or career.
AFL-CIO Executive Secretary Kim Floyd said the change to allow people to receive benefits while training “is an incredible option.” He noted that while Wyoming’s overall employment rate stands at more than 6.5%, unemployment in the construction trades stands at about 21%. “We’ve got a lot of people sitting on the bench.” (Quick aside: This is one of the reasons that the unions and the contractors association have joined forces to push legislation that could mean more state work for resident contractors who hire resident workers. Most state-funded highway and capital construction contracts have gone to contractors from outside the state, Floyd says.)
Joan Evans, director of the Department of Workforce Services, noted the simple extension of benefits will help people who have not been able to find work. “There are some people in desperate situations right now,” she told the committee.
Evans noted the ARRA funds offer important help to the department because they include $1 million for reprogramming to upgrade state administrative systems to handle changes in the law, such as the change in the base period of work used to calculate benefits. When she noted the state system currently uses COBOL programming, a buzz rippled around the committee room. Downing said later it has been many years since he heard of anyone using COBOL.
Addressing committee member concerns about continuing costs to the state after the ARRA funds are used, Downing said the legislature might have to repeal the changes later. Connolly asked the committee to consider the bill as a “pilot project” that will enable the state to use federal funds to evaluate the value of the changes.
The House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee amended the bill to delete several pages, including a section that would have allowed payment of benefits when a worker loses a job because his or her spouse’s job requires a change in location. At the urging of Rep. Dan Zwonitzer (R-HD43, Cheyenne) the committee also approved an amendment requiring the department to report on the costs and effects of the changes in by Nov. 15.
“That way we can fix our computer system and see if we want to change the law back,” Zwonitzer said.
House leadership referred the bill to be heard by the House Appropriations Committee Monday. The bill must be heard in the House Committee of the Whole by the end of the day Monday or it dies for the year. If that happens, the state loses the opportunity to tap the ARRA funds. States have until Aug. 22, 2011 to submit their applications to the U.S. Department of Labor to certify that they comply with the specific provisions of the ARRA’s incentive funding program.
“Validity” of Marriage
HB 74 – Validity of marriage was heard by the Senate Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Cultural Resources Committee. Opponents argued that the bill violates Equal Protection rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, voids legal contracts, and puts in doubt the status of legally married same-sex couples and their children.
House Majority Floor Leader Tom Lubnau pooh-poohed the criticism of the bill so loudly heard while it made its way through the House. “I don’t see this as a monumental civil rights battle,” he said.
Kiefer Partridge, a UW student and member of the WyWatch Political Action Committee, supported the bill, saying that state law should be biblically sound. According to Partridge, the concept of separation of church and state was meant to protect churches from the state, not to exclude churches from advocating for religiously-derived policy.
That’s a long stretch from the idea that separation of church and state prevents the adherents of one church or religion from using the state to impose their credo on the faithful of another belief or on people who follow no religion.
Tax on Wind Power Whirling Around
HB 191 – Wind power taxation narrowly passed Committee of the Whole, 28-24. Opponents said it takes too long – 20 years – to phase-in the $3 per megawatt hour (MWH) tax on power generated by wind farms already constructed in the state. They also claimed the bill is not ready, since sponsors said they would have to bring major amendments in subsequent readings.
The ESPC supports the existing wind tax structure, which imposes both sales tax and a MWH tax (although the MWH tax could be higher!). HB 191 “finances” sales tax via a higher MWH tax, which places some risk on the state if anticipated wind power development does not actually happen. Moreover, the sloooowwww phase-in of the MWH tax on existing projects is unjustified, as these projects never paid sales tax due to an exemption that expired at the end of 2010.
Data Not Needed
The bill extending an existing sales and use tax exemption for purchases of manufacturing equipment, HB 143 - Manufacturing tax exemption, passed the Senate Revenue Committee 4-1 last Thursday.
As in the House, economic development organizations and manufacturers lined up to say how much they like the tax exemption, and asserted that new taxes generated by development make up for the loss in sales and use tax collections: $53 million and growing since the exemption was enacted six years ago.
The ESPC, which opposed the tax exemption from the beginning and advocated successfully for the first follow-up reporting on a tax exemption, went through this year’s report on the exemption. It shows that the percentage of manufacturing jobs in Wyoming has gone down slightly since the tax exemption began, and that the absolute number of manufacturing jobs went up only slightly, but went down with the recession.
The report also shows while manufacturing wages are higher than in other economic sectors, part-time employees in manufacturing receive fewer benefits than part-time employees in other sectors.
Finally, the report notes that most of the benefit of the tax exemption has gone to a handful of manufacturers, principally the state’s two major refineries, Frontier Refining in Cheyenne and the Sinclair refinery. The ESPC collected data from the Laramie and Carbon county assessors to show that property tax data did not support the assertion that the sales tax exemption was made up for by increases in other tax revenues.
Senator Case asked most of the proponents why manufacturing should get a sales and use tax exemption but not other types of businesses. This question was raised in the ESPC’s testimony as well, a particularly pertinent one given the complete absence of any concrete documentation of the exemption’s benefits.
Chairman John Hines (R-S23, Gillette) and Senators Paul Barnard (R-S15, Evanston), Fred Emerich (R-S5, Cheyenne) and Drew Perkins (S-29, Casper) voted for the bill; Senator Cale Case (R-S25, Lander) cast the dissenting vote.
Participate
Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Gay anti-discrimination bill fails
Apparently it’s the “Equality” part of “Equality State” that many representatives don't understand
By Sarah Gorin and Dan Neal
ESPC lobbyists
Last week, we asked “What part of ‘Equality State’ don’t legislators understand?”
After today’s vote on House Bill 142 - Discrimination, we think it must be the “Equality” part.
HB 142 simply added “sexual orientation or gender identity” to several places in Wyoming statutes that already prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, national identity, religion/religious belief, sex, age, economic status, pregnancy, political affiliation, disability, ethnic background, ancestry, or inability to pay.
This bill provided an opportunity for those voting against recognition of gay marriages to leave that issue behind and go on record as opposing discrimination in such areas as employment, choosing juries, schools, and public accommodations (doesn’t that ring a bell, baby boomers?).
It’s little wonder that stories continue to emerge about students bullying their GLBT peers in schools and cyberspace, when their adult role models are so clearly sending the message that sexual orientation is adequate cause for demoting individuals to second-class status.
Please thank the representatives who voted for HB 142, and question the ones who didn’t.
Ayes: Representatives Barbuto, Blake, Bonner, Brown, Byrd, Campbell, Childers, Connolly, Craft, Esquibel (Ken), Freeman, Gingery, Goggles, Greene, Illoway, Kasperik, McOmie, Petroff, Roscoe, Shepperson, Steward, Throne, Wallis, Zwonitzer (Dan), Zwonitzer (Dave)
Nays: Representatives: Berger, Blikre, Botten, Brechtel, Buchanan, Burkhart, Cannady, Davison, Edmonds, Eklund, Gay, Greear, Harshman, Harvey, Hunt, Jaggi, Kroeker, Krone, Loucks, Lubnau, Madden, McKim, Miller, Moniz, Nicholas (Bob), Patton, Peasley, Petersen, Quarberg, Semlek, Stubson, Teeters, Vranish
Excused: Representative(s): Lockhart, Pedersen
For some funny and pointed observations on this subject, click on the link below to Mary Kettl’s column in the January 30 Casper Star-Tribune.
"The things we conceal and carry" by Mary Kettl
And While We’re Back in Time ….
Remember when southern politicians invoked “nullification” to preserve segregation in the face of federal civil rights laws? We’re back in time again, bringing “nullification” to bear on federal health care reforms.
Tomorrow, SJ 2 and HB 35 will be on final reading in the Senate and House, respectively. SJ 2 proposes to amend the Wyoming Constitution to say that Wyoming residents cannot be compelled to participate in any particular health care system or penalized for refusing to participate.
HB 35 began by criminalizing activity by any public servant to implement the Affordable Care Act, but now has been amended to a political tirade. It offers nothing in the way of health care.
While no one would argue that the Affordable Care Act is a perfect piece of legislation, it at least attempts to find solutions to the critical problems of uncompensated care, massive cost-shifting, cost containment, and the lack of transparency and accountability on the part of insurers.
Its initial implementation already has brought better health care to many Wyomingites, such as the previously uninsured who now can obtain affordable coverage through the federal high-risk pool, for young adults who can be covered on their parents’ policies, and to small businesses which are looking into utilizing the tax credit to purchase coverage for their employees.
The sponsors of these bills have not offered any ideas on how to keep our hospitals and nursing homes afloat or keep medical providers in our communities. Please use the HOTLINE information below to let your legislators know that it’s time to dump the politics and focus on actual health care.
Tipped workers
Two bills heard in committees Monday aimed to make changes in laws regulating pay for tipped workers.
HB131 – Tip sharing allows employers to require tipped employees to contribute to a pool shared by other tipped workers. Federal law limits the sharing to 15% of tips earned above the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour. Advocates say it enables a fairer distribution of tips among all of a businesses tipped workers.
The measure was approved unanimously by the House Minerals, Business & Economic Development Committee after it adopted an amendment that makes plain that the employer cannot be paid from the pool.
Late Friday evening Rep. Cathy Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) presented HB181 – Wage rates – penalties to the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee as a “small step” needed to make sure that tipped workers, particularly those working in restaurants, are paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour for each hour worked. The bill provided tipped workers an opportunity to request a confidential investigation by the state Department of Employment if they could show that an employer was not paying the “tip offset.”
Tipped workers can be paid a minimum wage of just $2.13 per hour. If they don’t make the equivalent of $5.12 in tips for each hour worked in a week, the employer must make up the difference. Connolly’s bill also provided that if an employer failed to pay the difference, the employee could file a civil action to recover three times the amount due or $100, whichever was greater.
The committee defeated the bill, however, amid concerns from Rep. Keith Gingery (R-HD23, Jackson) that it did not provide for an appeal process for employers. Connolly tried to counter that worry with a promise to bring a floor amendment but the committee voted 4-5 to kill the bill.
League of Women Voters Lobbyist Marguerite Herman said the committee could address all its worries simply by dropping the exemption that allows employers to pay tipped workers a direct wage of just $2.13 per hour.
Herman's proposal is the real solution to the whole problem for tipped workers.Removing the exemption eliminate all the bookkeeping required to make certain a workers wages and tips bring the worker to $7.25 an hour.
But the legislature has refused to consider raising the tipped minimum and that's why Rep. Connolly offered this much smaller step address some of the issues surrounding the system. Many workers fear to complain when they're cheated out of wages, fearing retribution that could cost them their job.
Chairman Elaine Harvey, Rep. Joe Barbuto (D-HD48, Rock Springs), Rep. Bernadine Craft (D-HD17, Rock Springs) and co-sponsor Rep. Matt Greene (R-HD45-Laramie) voted for the bill.
Reps. Gerald Gay (R-HD36, Casper), Gingery, Hans Hunt (R-HD2, Newcastle), David Miller (R-HD55, Riverton) and Frank Peasley (R-HD3, Douglas) voted Nay and killed the bill.
Editor's note: As we post this, the LSO server is busy and we cannot provide the links to these bills. We will update the blog later with those links.
Participate
Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.
By Sarah Gorin and Dan Neal
ESPC lobbyists
Last week, we asked “What part of ‘Equality State’ don’t legislators understand?”
After today’s vote on House Bill 142 - Discrimination, we think it must be the “Equality” part.
HB 142 simply added “sexual orientation or gender identity” to several places in Wyoming statutes that already prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, national identity, religion/religious belief, sex, age, economic status, pregnancy, political affiliation, disability, ethnic background, ancestry, or inability to pay.
This bill provided an opportunity for those voting against recognition of gay marriages to leave that issue behind and go on record as opposing discrimination in such areas as employment, choosing juries, schools, and public accommodations (doesn’t that ring a bell, baby boomers?).
It’s little wonder that stories continue to emerge about students bullying their GLBT peers in schools and cyberspace, when their adult role models are so clearly sending the message that sexual orientation is adequate cause for demoting individuals to second-class status.
Please thank the representatives who voted for HB 142, and question the ones who didn’t.
Ayes: Representatives Barbuto, Blake, Bonner, Brown, Byrd, Campbell, Childers, Connolly, Craft, Esquibel (Ken), Freeman, Gingery, Goggles, Greene, Illoway, Kasperik, McOmie, Petroff, Roscoe, Shepperson, Steward, Throne, Wallis, Zwonitzer (Dan), Zwonitzer (Dave)
Nays: Representatives: Berger, Blikre, Botten, Brechtel, Buchanan, Burkhart, Cannady, Davison, Edmonds, Eklund, Gay, Greear, Harshman, Harvey, Hunt, Jaggi, Kroeker, Krone, Loucks, Lubnau, Madden, McKim, Miller, Moniz, Nicholas (Bob), Patton, Peasley, Petersen, Quarberg, Semlek, Stubson, Teeters, Vranish
Excused: Representative(s): Lockhart, Pedersen
For some funny and pointed observations on this subject, click on the link below to Mary Kettl’s column in the January 30 Casper Star-Tribune.
"The things we conceal and carry" by Mary Kettl
And While We’re Back in Time ….
Remember when southern politicians invoked “nullification” to preserve segregation in the face of federal civil rights laws? We’re back in time again, bringing “nullification” to bear on federal health care reforms.
Tomorrow, SJ 2 and HB 35 will be on final reading in the Senate and House, respectively. SJ 2 proposes to amend the Wyoming Constitution to say that Wyoming residents cannot be compelled to participate in any particular health care system or penalized for refusing to participate.
HB 35 began by criminalizing activity by any public servant to implement the Affordable Care Act, but now has been amended to a political tirade. It offers nothing in the way of health care.
While no one would argue that the Affordable Care Act is a perfect piece of legislation, it at least attempts to find solutions to the critical problems of uncompensated care, massive cost-shifting, cost containment, and the lack of transparency and accountability on the part of insurers.
Its initial implementation already has brought better health care to many Wyomingites, such as the previously uninsured who now can obtain affordable coverage through the federal high-risk pool, for young adults who can be covered on their parents’ policies, and to small businesses which are looking into utilizing the tax credit to purchase coverage for their employees.
The sponsors of these bills have not offered any ideas on how to keep our hospitals and nursing homes afloat or keep medical providers in our communities. Please use the HOTLINE information below to let your legislators know that it’s time to dump the politics and focus on actual health care.
Tipped workers
Two bills heard in committees Monday aimed to make changes in laws regulating pay for tipped workers.
HB131 – Tip sharing allows employers to require tipped employees to contribute to a pool shared by other tipped workers. Federal law limits the sharing to 15% of tips earned above the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour. Advocates say it enables a fairer distribution of tips among all of a businesses tipped workers.
The measure was approved unanimously by the House Minerals, Business & Economic Development Committee after it adopted an amendment that makes plain that the employer cannot be paid from the pool.
Late Friday evening Rep. Cathy Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) presented HB181 – Wage rates – penalties to the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee as a “small step” needed to make sure that tipped workers, particularly those working in restaurants, are paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour for each hour worked. The bill provided tipped workers an opportunity to request a confidential investigation by the state Department of Employment if they could show that an employer was not paying the “tip offset.”
Tipped workers can be paid a minimum wage of just $2.13 per hour. If they don’t make the equivalent of $5.12 in tips for each hour worked in a week, the employer must make up the difference. Connolly’s bill also provided that if an employer failed to pay the difference, the employee could file a civil action to recover three times the amount due or $100, whichever was greater.
The committee defeated the bill, however, amid concerns from Rep. Keith Gingery (R-HD23, Jackson) that it did not provide for an appeal process for employers. Connolly tried to counter that worry with a promise to bring a floor amendment but the committee voted 4-5 to kill the bill.
League of Women Voters Lobbyist Marguerite Herman said the committee could address all its worries simply by dropping the exemption that allows employers to pay tipped workers a direct wage of just $2.13 per hour.
Herman's proposal is the real solution to the whole problem for tipped workers.Removing the exemption eliminate all the bookkeeping required to make certain a workers wages and tips bring the worker to $7.25 an hour.
But the legislature has refused to consider raising the tipped minimum and that's why Rep. Connolly offered this much smaller step address some of the issues surrounding the system. Many workers fear to complain when they're cheated out of wages, fearing retribution that could cost them their job.
Chairman Elaine Harvey, Rep. Joe Barbuto (D-HD48, Rock Springs), Rep. Bernadine Craft (D-HD17, Rock Springs) and co-sponsor Rep. Matt Greene (R-HD45-Laramie) voted for the bill.
Reps. Gerald Gay (R-HD36, Casper), Gingery, Hans Hunt (R-HD2, Newcastle), David Miller (R-HD55, Riverton) and Frank Peasley (R-HD3, Douglas) voted Nay and killed the bill.
Editor's note: As we post this, the LSO server is busy and we cannot provide the links to these bills. We will update the blog later with those links.
Participate
Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sexual orientation and anti-discrimination law
Sexual orientation deserves legal protection
During its first two weeks of the session, much of the legislature’s attention focused on marriage and whether the state should recognize gay and lesbian marriages legally made outside Wyoming. Tuesday morning, Rep. Cathy Connolly shepherded a bill through the House Judiciary Committee that will make it illegal in Wyoming to discriminate against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“I consider this bill simple yet profound,” Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) told the committee. House Bill 142 - Discrimination adds the words “sexual orientation or gender identity in all state laws that have anti-discrimination clauses.
For example, Wyoming statute 19-14-107 creases the veterans’ commission and outlines its composition and terms of commissioners.
“Appointments shall be made without regard to political affiliation, sex, religion or ethnic background,” the statute now reads. Connolly’s bill will insert the words “sexual orientation or gender identify” between the words sex and religion in that statute.
Connolly noted she did not propose adding the anti-discrimination clause anywhere one does not already exist, a decision that gives the measure a Goldilocks sheen. “It’s not too much and it’s not too little. It’s just right.”
She also noted the bill is necessary because gays, lesbians and transgendered people “have been and are the victims of discrimination” and these days often are the primary targets of “vicious bigotry.”
University of Wyoming Provost Myron Allen spoke in favor of the bill. He said the university long ago adopted an anti-discrimination policy that encompasses sexual orientation and political beliefs. The policy is critical to recruitment efforts at UW, he reported. He pointed out of the top 25 institutions of higher learning in the U.S., only one – Notre Dame – does not have a policy protecting sexual orientation. Similarly, of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies, only one does not bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Linda Burt of the Wyoming Chapter of the ACLU said her offices takes many complaints each year from people who believe they lost a job or were denied a promotion because of sexual orientation. Without specific state protection, she said, “Generally, what we can do is nothing.”
The committee approved the bill on a 6-3 vote:
Ayes: Representative(s) Barbuto, Brown, Cannady, Greene, Krone and Throne
Nayes: Representative(s) Brechtel, Nicholas B and Peasley
Political party registration
The Senate Corporations Committee killed a measure aimed at blocking voters from switching parties to vote in primaries. Sen. Kit Jennings (R-SD28, Casper) sponsored SF13 – Change of political party affiliation to stop what he termed meddling in one party’s primary by voters temporarily switching registration. He said some 10,000 people changed registration to vote in the Republican primary last August, when Matt Mead won the GOP nomination by fewer than 800 votes.
“That’s meddling,” he said. “The primary is about parties.”
The committee did not agree with his argument and voted 0-5 to kill the bill.
Open primary - The committee took up freshman Sen. Chris Rothfuss’ proposal to establish an open primary under which a voter in a state primary could request a ballot for any party. He said SF96 – Open primaries particularly would show respect for Independent voters who sometimes feel compelled to register as a Republican or Democrat in order to have choices in the primary.
“It increases the freedom of the voters to choose people we want,” Rothfuss (D-SD9, Laramie) said. He noted that even prominent members of a party, such as the members of the committee would be allowed to take the other party’s ballot in a primary and know that their choice would not become public.
The committee likewise killed Rothfuss’ bill, though on a narrow 3-2 vote. Sens. John Hines (R-SD23, Gillette,) Wayne Johnson (R-SD6, Cheyenne) and Marty Martin (D-SD12, Superior) voted against the bill. Sen. Charles Scott (R-SD30, Casper) and committee Chairman Cale Case (R-SD25, Lander) voted for the bill.
During its first two weeks of the session, much of the legislature’s attention focused on marriage and whether the state should recognize gay and lesbian marriages legally made outside Wyoming. Tuesday morning, Rep. Cathy Connolly shepherded a bill through the House Judiciary Committee that will make it illegal in Wyoming to discriminate against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“I consider this bill simple yet profound,” Connolly (D-HD13, Laramie) told the committee. House Bill 142 - Discrimination adds the words “sexual orientation or gender identity in all state laws that have anti-discrimination clauses.
For example, Wyoming statute 19-14-107 creases the veterans’ commission and outlines its composition and terms of commissioners.
“Appointments shall be made without regard to political affiliation, sex, religion or ethnic background,” the statute now reads. Connolly’s bill will insert the words “sexual orientation or gender identify” between the words sex and religion in that statute.
Connolly noted she did not propose adding the anti-discrimination clause anywhere one does not already exist, a decision that gives the measure a Goldilocks sheen. “It’s not too much and it’s not too little. It’s just right.”
She also noted the bill is necessary because gays, lesbians and transgendered people “have been and are the victims of discrimination” and these days often are the primary targets of “vicious bigotry.”
University of Wyoming Provost Myron Allen spoke in favor of the bill. He said the university long ago adopted an anti-discrimination policy that encompasses sexual orientation and political beliefs. The policy is critical to recruitment efforts at UW, he reported. He pointed out of the top 25 institutions of higher learning in the U.S., only one – Notre Dame – does not have a policy protecting sexual orientation. Similarly, of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies, only one does not bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Linda Burt of the Wyoming Chapter of the ACLU said her offices takes many complaints each year from people who believe they lost a job or were denied a promotion because of sexual orientation. Without specific state protection, she said, “Generally, what we can do is nothing.”
The committee approved the bill on a 6-3 vote:
Ayes: Representative(s) Barbuto, Brown, Cannady, Greene, Krone and Throne
Nayes: Representative(s) Brechtel, Nicholas B and Peasley
Political party registration
The Senate Corporations Committee killed a measure aimed at blocking voters from switching parties to vote in primaries. Sen. Kit Jennings (R-SD28, Casper) sponsored SF13 – Change of political party affiliation to stop what he termed meddling in one party’s primary by voters temporarily switching registration. He said some 10,000 people changed registration to vote in the Republican primary last August, when Matt Mead won the GOP nomination by fewer than 800 votes.
“That’s meddling,” he said. “The primary is about parties.”
The committee did not agree with his argument and voted 0-5 to kill the bill.
Open primary - The committee took up freshman Sen. Chris Rothfuss’ proposal to establish an open primary under which a voter in a state primary could request a ballot for any party. He said SF96 – Open primaries particularly would show respect for Independent voters who sometimes feel compelled to register as a Republican or Democrat in order to have choices in the primary.
“It increases the freedom of the voters to choose people we want,” Rothfuss (D-SD9, Laramie) said. He noted that even prominent members of a party, such as the members of the committee would be allowed to take the other party’s ballot in a primary and know that their choice would not become public.
The committee likewise killed Rothfuss’ bill, though on a narrow 3-2 vote. Sens. John Hines (R-SD23, Gillette,) Wayne Johnson (R-SD6, Cheyenne) and Marty Martin (D-SD12, Superior) voted against the bill. Sen. Charles Scott (R-SD30, Casper) and committee Chairman Cale Case (R-SD25, Lander) voted for the bill.
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