Legislature approves state worker furlough bill

Friday, May 22, 2009 | 1:01 p.m.

Archive of Sun politics stories

CARSON CITY – The Legislature has approved and sent to Gov. Jim Gibbons a bill requiring 16,000 state workers to take a furlough, rather than a pay cut.

Dennis Mallory, who represents the state’s classified workers, said the furlough was the suggestion of the State of Nevada Employees Association.

Senate Bill 433 provides that the unclassified workers, those in high levels of state government, must take one day leave a month without pay. The bulk of workers must take 96 hours of furlough during each of the coming two years.

Mallory said the furlough provides “moral relief” in that the pay level of the worker will not go down and the worker won't lose his or her benefits in retirement and health insurance plans.

The bill provides that if the balance in the state’s general fund reached $390 million next June 30, school teachers and university personnel will get a 1 percent pay raise. If the general fund balance hits $425 million, the raise would be 2 percent.

The local school boards and the regents of Nevada’s Higher Education System will decide whether to adopt the furlough plan or to make cuts in the salary level.

Jim Richardson, representing the Nevada Faculty Alliance, told the Assembly Ways and Means Committee that university faculty appreciated the work of the Legislature in reaching an agreement on compensation for public employees.

But he said the final decision will be up to the regents to decide what procedure to do – either pay reductions or furloughs.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said the bill provides flexibility for workers. For example, she said a classified worker can take four hours off in one pay period and four hours in another so the reduction in salary will not be large in one hit.

Gov. Jim Gibbons had proposed a 6 percent pay cut for all state workers. The Legislature reduced that to 4.6 percent but then adopted the furlough plan instead.

Gibbons didn’t support the furlough plan and raised 19 questions about the proposal in a letter to lawmakers. Buckley said she and the legislative staff met with the staff of the governor’s office and answered all 19 questions.

“This is more complicated but it is fairer,” said Buckley.

One of the last things holding up passage of the tax package was reductions in the benefits in the Public Employees Retirement System.

Now, a worker can stay on the job for 30 years and retire at any age and receive benefits. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce wanted the benefits delayed until the employee reached 62 years old.

Mallory said under the compromise, workers will still be able to retire after 30 years and get their benefits without reaching 62-years old.

Now government workers who retire receive up to a 5 percent cost of living adjustment depending on how much years they have been drawing their pensions. Under the compromise on Senate Bill 427, workers who start employment with governments after January 2010 will be capped at a 4 percent cost of living when they retire.

The furlough bill passed the Senate Thursday 20-1 with Mark Amoedi, R-Carson City dissenting. He had complained that state workers were not being treated equally compared to employees in school districts.

The Assembly approved SB433 today 37-5. The opposing votes were cast by Republicans Tyrus Cobb of Reno, Ed Goedhart of Amargosa Valley, Don Gustavson of Sparks, John Hambrick of Las Vegas and Richard McArthur, also of Las Vegas.

Discussion: 10 comments so far…

By neiman1

5/22/09 at 1:21 p.m.

Suggest removal

Why are all the things to "increase moral" going to cost us more in the long run. Creating higher costs in health care and retirements by not reducing salaries is kicking the can down the road for next time. It keep salaries up so next budget session the workers will start negotiations from a higher point than salary reductions.

The furlough may save the actual wages paid that day but it also means nothing gets done. This is not a cut to wages at all. This is a scam.
By JBond

5/22/09 at 2:23 p.m.

Suggest removal

Neiman1, you are not only a scam but you are a bitter old scam that when pressed for proposed solutions all you do is spout partisan rhetoric. I doubt you would work without pay and this moves save the state money for the next two years. Maybe not as much as you want but it is a savings.
By Narcissa

5/22/09 at 3:56 p.m.

Suggest removal

Well, by all means let's keep spending the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to print state government documents in Spanish and who knows how many MILLIONS in other government services that the illegal aliens in this beleaguered state use.

How much less of a deficit would we have if YOUR money wasn't being spent on these people?

And, why has not one person in the legislature sought to enact legislation that would cripple businesses that hire illegals, punish landlords that rent to them and force the Attorney General to actually enforce the law, instead of cowtowing to their demands that YOUR office resources be used for their benefit?

Oh, but I forgot-many of these impoverished illiterates are "victims", as opposed to, say, the REAL residents of this state that now have to go without, thanks, in part to the funds that have been diverted to "assist" these criminals.

But, hey, we've got the Kenyan, the San Frandisco Yenta and the Las Vegas Land Swindler in Washington to ensure that the same drain caused by the illegals, which resulted in California being the financial disaster area it is today, will NEVER happen in Nevada or anywhere else in America.

So, we got that going for us.
By NevadaFive

5/22/09 at 10:35 p.m.

Suggest removal

NARCissa: you spout racist, facist viewpoints.

I dare you to list - actually list the Nevada government documents printed in spanish - go ahead, where are they? Show us the million$$ - list them - that are going to illegal aliens. List the landlords who are renting to the illegals (specifically the dark-skinned ones from Mexico). I truly want to be enlightened - also let us know where we can attend the next klan rally.
By Linda_in_Vegas

5/23/09 at 2:19 p.m.

Suggest removal

Re:NevadaFive

Illegal (alien) is not a race, it is a status, and a lawbreaking status at that, thus the word "illegal".. (you may want to look up it's meaning..

As far as the government printing documents in Spanish, that is factual, do the homework, much like pressing 2# on your phone. BTW not all Spanish speaking people come specifically from Mexico.. that was actually a racist comment by you..

Each governmental agency, and each company that print in Spanish should not be doing that. They are singling out one specific group to cater to, leaving out your French, German, Farci, Russian, ect.. ect.. ect... You think that's fair? If you are going to do it for one language, other then English(which is what we speak in America) then do it for all, or NOT AT ALL! How difficult is that to understand? They really could be saving money by not doing this.

What a terrible remark, re: klan rally...
By mrx149

5/23/09 at 2:35 p.m.

Suggest removal

Well said Linda.
By gmag39

5/23/09 at 3:10 p.m.

Suggest removal

well, I can respect linda's reply to nevadafive.
I can also understand people reacting negatively to the post from "narcissa".
If you read these pages regularly, you will be aware that her(?) posts are invariably venomous and negative to the nth. NOT a happy camper, that.
By travislv86

5/23/09 at 4:36 p.m.

Suggest removal

I don't know how to feel about this, yes people of unlawful residency do cost a lot, but what do we do? Let people die outside of hospitals, because that is where the real cost is coming from, not an extra 1000 reams of paper from office max.
By ivegotcha

5/24/09 at 11:45 a.m.

Suggest removal

Well back to the question, so they give them furloughs each and every county employee will still be paid throught another cal or eib bank. Which is separate than the payroll. But none the less it still comes from the state for cover it. So right now they are talking stupid because it actually defeats the purpose of saving money. But we have yet to some anything constructive come out of this state. I am still waiting to hear about these high salaries being chopped .... notice how they side line that issue.
By unite

6/26/09 at 5:48 p.m.

Suggest removal

A note about State employee salary cuts in the form of furloughs. First, for ivegotcha, you are speaking about COUNTY employees and not STATE employees. They are both paid from different funds. The State employee furlough is a pay cut. NSHE employees will also being paying out more for their health benefits and their retirement which will decrease their bottom line even more. I think those folks who oppose a salary cut (and it is!!) in the form of a furlough should look at things from the other side of the fence. What are they doing to help the State's budget crisis? Probably not supporting paying any taxes. LOL.

« Previous Ten Next Ten »

Live chat: Tuesday, noon PST; Chat with Krista Creelman; Problem Gambling Center executive director Krista Creelman will answer questions about gambling addiction from Las Vegas Sun readers from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. ... Submit question