ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE  LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL  DECEMBER 20, 2016  1:33 PM    MEMBERS PRESENT  Senator Gary Stevens, Chair Representative Bob Herron, Vice Chair Senator Lyman Hoffman Senator Kevin Meyer Representative Craig Johnson Representative Sam Kito MEMBERS ON TELECONFERENCE    Senator John Coghill Senator Anna MacKinnon Senator Peter Micciche Representative Mike Chenault   MEMBERS ABSENT  Senator Charlie Huggins Senator Lesil McGuire, alternate Senator Cathy Giessel, alternate Representative Mike Hawker Representative Charisse Millett Representative Mark Neuman Representative Steve Thompson, alternate Representative Harriet Drummond, alternate OTHER MEMBERS PRESENT  Representatives David Guttenberg and Lora Reinbold AGENDA  APPROVAL OF AGENDA APPROVAL OF MINUTES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CHANGES MOVING AND TRAVEL POLICY CHANGES ALLOWANCE POLICY CHANGE CONTRACT APPROVALS OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS (continued on next page) SPEAKER REGISTER  Tim Banaszak, Information Technology Manager, Legislative Affairs Agency Jessica Geary, Finance Manager, Legislative Affairs Agency Doug Gardner, Legal Services Director, Legislative Affairs Agency Steve Daigle, Chief of Security, Legislative Affairs Agency Pam Varni, Executive Director, Legislative Affairs Agency 1:33:08 PM I. CHAIR GARY STEVENS called the Legislative Council meeting to order at 1:33 p.m. in the Anchorage Legislative Information Office Auditorium. Present at the call were Senators Stevens, Hoffman, Meyer; Representatives Herron, Johnson and Kito. Participating via teleconference were Senators Coghill, MacKinnon, Micciche; and Representative Chenault. Absent were Senators Huggins, McGuire, alternate, and Giessel, alternate; and Representatives Hawker, Millett, Neuman, Thompson, alternate, and Drummond, alternate. Chair Stevens began the meeting by noting that it was the last meeting with him as Chair of Legislative Council. He thanked members for their service; specifically he thanked Representative Herron for his work as the vice chair, and Pam Varni and her wonderful staff who have been helpful and supportive throughout his tenure. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA    1:35:20 PM VICE CHAIR HERRON moved that Legislative Council approve the agenda as proposed. The agenda was approved without objection.   III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES  a. September 1, 2016  b. November 1, 2016  c. November 21, 2016  1:35:33 PM VICE CHAIR HERRON moved that Legislative Council approve the minutes of the September 1, 2016, November 1, 2016, and November 21, 2016 minutes as presented. The minutes were approved without objection. IV. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CHANGES  a. Name Change  b. Facebook    a. Name Change  TIM BANASZAK, Information Technology Manager for the Alaska Legislature, said that "IT" is a household word that people are familiar with. IT has updated its websites but for clarity purposes, some Legislative Council policies would need to be updated with the name change. The goal was to provide clear communication and which, in some cases, do require action on the part of Legislators or legislative staff. In order to facilitate that approach, IT was looking to "brand" their communications. There were some recent SPAM activities and clear, branded communications were instrumental to ensure that Legislators and staff were made aware of those activities. There was no action required by Council and no objections were made regarding the name change. b. Facebook  1:39:59 PM VICE CHAIR HERRON moved that Legislative Council approve expanded access to Facebook for Legislator's partisan staff to emulate the access that is currently provided for Legislators and non-partisan Agency staff. MR. BANASZAK stated that Legislators and non-partisan Agency staff currently have Facebook access. There is also Facebook access on the Legislature's wireless network. If someone wants to get to Facebook, they can get to Facebook. Right now, partisan legislative staff are unable to access Facebook from their legislative computers. The controls are in place to allow access and which could be easily granted if that is the decision. He said that by definition, Facebook is an open and connected platform which can enable direct interactions between the Legislature, the Legislators, and Alaska's citizens. It can also be a timely solution for communication, and a cost-effective way to interact with constituents with what was originally a social media vehicle. He brought to members' attention a survey that was conducted of governmental entities whereby 87% of respondents said that their governmental entity had a Facebook page; which sheds some light on the business value; 91% of the respondents indicated that the primary purpose of Facebook was to keep citizens informed. He closed his testimony by saying that as with any other vehicle of communication, when one is using Facebook it's important to make sure that what's being communicated is true, it's necessary, and it's relevant. There is a Social Media Guide approved by Legislative Council to ensure an informed staff does not inadvertently put out communications they didn't intend to. CHAIR STEVENS confirmed with Mr. Banaszak that the only folks in the Capitol who do not have access to Facebook are the partisan staff who work for the Legislators. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON stated that he has been opposed to this since it was first brought up basically on the grounds of ethics. We have some of the strictest ethics laws in the nation; what one can do in some states in that survey would be an ethics violation in Alaska. If we proceed with this, he believed it was incumbent on this committee to make sure that it would be part of the ethics training; and that a line of accountability be set up that if a partisan staff does something on Facebook that crosses that threshold of campaigning, for example, that lays out who is responsible. He said this was opening up Pandora's Box and opening up the Legislature to more and more ethics complaints. He said we are also going to need to start looking at the ethics laws to address this issue; it is not a simple yes or no solution to the problem. He also asked about other social media outlets being allowed. He encouraged a lot of caution in proceeding with this issue. REPRESENTATIVE KITO said that it was timely from his perspective in that he and his staff have been sharing a laptop computer and every time someone else logs into the laptop, he loses Facebook access and we have to call IT. This was solved by disconnecting the laptop and using Wi-Fi instead. He said his office uses it for communications. While it is important to understand ethical considerations, they do that every day with communication and Facebook is another communication tool just as a telephone is. Just as someone on Facebook might inadvertently do some campaign activity, they might do the same on the telephone; with Facebook, it's actually recorded and there is evidence with which to identify and conduct an investigation much more easily than telephone communication. MR. BANASZAK, in response to the Chair's request for additional information on ethical concerns and limiting this action to Facebook, said that there are already so many ways to get access to Facebook and other social media options. He said that this issue isn't limited to Facebook but really involves all social media. Users and staff have been trained in using these vehicles of communication. Whether Facebook is blocked for this group, it's possible to access Facebook in other ways. Perhaps one approach is to use the existing Social Media Policy to open up all social media options in order to manage appropriately. In response to a follow-up question by the Chair, Mr. Banaszak confirmed this particular motion deals only with Facebook. 1:53:21 PM SENATE PRESIDENT MEYER, after a brief discussion, moved that the original motion be amended to include all social media (not just Facebook). SENATOR MACKINNON said that there are probably some sites to which we aren't going to want to allow access from state computers. MR. BANASZAK responded that IT has intentionally blocked certain nefarious and/or inappropriate sites, and that wouldn't change by allowing access to certain social media options. As new venues for communication become available, IT would take a cautious approach to allowing access. He said they would be very specific to say which sites were legitimate and which were not; for example, Twitter is a legitimate way to keep the public informed. This motion would not allow a wide-open gateway to just anything. In response to a follow-up question, Mr. Banaszak said that there would be technical controls in place so that one could not get to nefarious sites. In addition, there would be administrative controls that could act as guidelines to social media. SENATOR MACKINNON asked if a definition of social media had been adopted so everyone had the same understanding. She said she would speak in opposition to the current amendment as proposed if there wasn't a caveat that whatever those mechanisms are, IT will judiciously go through and look at the site and make sure that the general public, under general acceptable norms, communicate through that site, and then come back to Council, as happens with certain events, to approve and review recommended sites. She added that she was also concerned that Council was possibly showing a preference for Facebook, a for-profit company, in limiting the Legislature's use over other social media sites, which she didn't think was fair. In response to a request for clarification, she said she supported a more expansive approach, but not "all" - she was more apt to support those that the general public is more familiar with. SENATOR MICCICHE said it might help if Mr. Banaszak could clarify how some of the filters work. Simply opening access to social media platforms doesn't mean one can click on any file to open. MR. BANASZAK said that the way IT monitors access to social media, those types of platforms are actually categories of service. IT can allow a category of communication service in technical controls and can go further to allow Facebook but, by default, continue to block a site like Tumblr. Twitter may be permitted and that would be a technical control to allow access. Malicious sites that nefariously try to collect user information, or a pornographic sites are all continuously blocked by filters and monitors. Maintaining security is their top priority. REPRESENTATIVE HERRON suggested an amendment to the amendment to change "social media" to "limited social media spectrum." This will make it clear that there are limits and that it will be IT that determines the spectrum available to users. Mr. Banaszak agreed that was a good recommendation and language IT can work with. MR. BANASZAK, in response to a question by Representative Johnson about protecting Facebook accounts, said that IT and the Legislature do not have the ability to control or manage Facebook accounts. It is up to the user to employ best practices, such as frequently changing passwords and reporting any untoward activity to Facebook. Creating a Facebook page is done independently of the IT systems; they can monitor activity and report suspicions, but not much beyond that. In response to a follow-up question, Mr. Banaszak noted that legislative staff are able to access Facebook through Wi-Fi, although they are not currently able to access Facebook through their work computer. Mr. Banaszak said that IT is able to have greater control with the wired network. SENATOR COGHILL said that Legislative Council has specifically prohibited partisan staff from using Facebook, so the term "Facebook" should be kept in the motion. SENATE PRESIDENT MEYER accepted Vice Chair Herron's friendly amendment to the amendment to use the term "limited social media spectrum" so a vote isn't necessary. DISCUSSION FOLLOWED refining the amended motion language. MS. VARNI stated the amended motion as follows: "I move that Legislative Council approve expanded access to Facebook and limited social media for Legislator's partisan staff to emulate the access that is currently provided for Legislators and non-partisan Agency staff. A roll call vote was taken. YEAS: Meyer, Coghill, Hoffman, MacKinnon, Micciche, Chenault, Kito, Herron, Stevens NAYS: Johnson The amended motion passed 9-1. V. MOVING AND TRAVEL POLICY CHANGES  2:11:45 PM VICE CHAIR HERRON moved that Legislative Council approve the changes to the Legislative Council Moving & Travel Policy as per the attached draft. JESSICA GEARY, Finance Manager for Legislative Affairs Agency, testified that members had before them for consideration three proposed changes to the Moving and Travel Policy. The first two changes dealt with the transportation of Legislators' vehicles from their home to Juneau for the duration of session. The current policy allowed for Legislators to bring two vehicles; the proposed change would limit that to one vehicle. The second change deals with payment of the shipping of vehicles for Legislators that live off the road and marine highway systems. The current policy allowed for a vehicle to be either air-freighted or barged to a location that connects with a state road or ferry system; as a way to realize cost savings, this proposal allows for the possibility of a rental car for the duration of session if it was less expensive than shipping a vehicle from a location off the road or marine highway system. This policy change would require a Legislator to demonstrate that it would be less expensive to ship a vehicle to Juneau than to rent a car in Juneau for the duration of the session. Ms. Geary said the last change to the policy dealt with the types of items a Legislator is currently allowed to ship to Juneau as part of their household goods and personal effects. The policy language includes the word "appliances" as allowed in the shipment of household goods. The term "appliances" isn't very definitive and could allow for the shipment of major appliances such as washers, dryers, refrigerators, etc.; this proposed change clarifies the intent of that language which is to allow small appliances such as toasters, blenders, etc. Ms. Geary ended her testimony by noting that in the proposed policy language, they tried to catch all the references from two vehicles to one vehicle; they missed at least one and if Legislative Council chose to adopt these changes, they would make sure to fix all references. NOTE: Senator Hoffman asked a question, but it was inaudible. DISCUSSION FOLLOWED regarding household goods that may be packed inside the vehicle being shipped, as well as the definition of small appliance and what is allowed as a household good and what is allowed as a legitimate item necessary for conducting legislative business. SENATOR HOFFMAN was concerned that any proposed change not discriminate against Legislators who live in rural Alaska simply because the moving costs are higher. He said while we need to be conscious of the State's budget, it should not be required that rural Legislators have to go through mathematical gyrations to justify their move to Juneau. DISCUSSION FOLLOWED regarding whether one car is enough for a Legislator with a large family; whether special and/or extended sessions were included in the calculation of a rental car versus shipping a vehicle; the general cost of shipping a vehicle via air freight or barge; which type of vehicle would be allowed as a rental; legislative purchasing and running of a "zip car" type of system where Legislators share vehicles as needed in Juneau. SENATOR MICCICHE believed that it was the appropriate time to review policies given the fiscal situation of the State, and that the proposed policy gives enough leeway for those who have a more difficult time getting their families and goods to Juneau. CHAIR STEVENS re-stated the motion that Legislative Council approve the changes to the Legislative Council Moving & Travel Policy as per the attached draft. He reminded members that the changes were (1) allowing one vehicle instead of two to be brought to Juneau for session at State expense; (2) shipping vehicles off the road/ferry system versus renting a vehicle in Juneau for session; and (3) clarifying allowed household goods to be small appliances only. 2:34:30 PM A roll call vote was taken. YEAS: Meyer, Coghill, Hoffman, MacKinnon, Micciche, Chenault, Johnson, Kito, Herron, Stevens NAYS: None The motion passed 10-0. VI. ALLOWANCE POLICY CHANGES  2:35:06 PM VICE CHAIR HERRON moved that Legislative Council approve the change to the Legislative Council policy as per the attached draft. CHAIR STEVENS objected for purposes of discussion and asked Finance Manager Jessica Geary to brief Council. MS. GEARY said this was a simple change to the Allowance Account Policy. In the FY 17 budget process, the House allowance accounts were cut by 25%, which reduced House member's accounts from $16,000 to $12,000. The policy language needs to be updated to reflect that reduction. DISCUSSION FOLLOWED between Representatives Kito, Johnson, and Herron, and Chair Stevens and Senate President Meyer regarding the fact that the Senate did not reduce their allowance account; that a Senator's district is twice the size of a Representative's district, so newsletters and travel are more expensive; perhaps House members should have half the amount of Senate members; and that the cut was a decision by the House Majority, not the Finance Committees. Further, it was noted that a few years ago Legislative Council approved by a vote of 8-6 to double allowance account amounts, which truly was a policy call at the time, and all six votes against that motion were House members. Senator Hoffman left the meeting before the roll was called. A roll call vote was taken. YEAS: Meyer, Coghill, MacKinnon, Micciche, Chenault, Johnson, Kito, Herron, Stevens NAYS: None The motion passed 9-0. VII. CONTRACT APPROVALS  a. Westlaw Contract  b. Stoel Rives Contract    a. Westlaw Contract  DOUG GARDNER, Director of Legal Services, said that he had Joe Keikkala of his staff put together a proposal to reduce the contract costs going forward. The Legislature has passwords from LexisNexis and passwords from Westlaw allowing for legal research; the systems are very similar. We have some unique libraries that are included in the Westlaw contract, and he thought it would be wise for the Legislature to maintain both accounts. The Lexis accounts aren't necessarily free, but are included in the existing contract along with other services. He said it was possible to reduce the contract costs without affecting service overall by reducing the number of online research accounts from 40 to 30; the savings would be approximately $23,500 for a three year contract, and $60,000 for a five year contract. The Chair interrupted to ask for a motion before continuing. 2:44:10 PM VICE CHAIR HERRON moved that Legislative Council enter into a 5-year contract with West Publishing in the amount of $215,869.20. The Chair objected for purposes of discussion. MR. GARDNER, in response to a question by the Chair, stated that both Lexis and Westlaw are computer search platforms provided by the publishers of a vast number of legal publications in the country. Lexis publishes the Alaska statutes, West Publishing heads Westlaw and publishes other states' statutes. By having both search engines, we cover all 50 states, as well as many other reporters, such as briefs from trial courts that can be important for representing the Legislature on cutting edge issues. The amount of resources that the Legislature puts into staff time and resources, in Legal Services, in Research Services, and in the legislative library, who often help the public with various requests, all benefit from having access to Westlaw and Lexis. He said it's a very cost effective tool; part of the trade off to re-focusing the library on Legislator needs is that there was a commitment to ensuring access to online resources. The library saved a lot of money by reducing their hard copy subscriptions and part of the trade-off was to ensure continued access to resources electronically. This contract does that and for additional cost savings as well. CHAIR STEVENS summarized the motion and discussion of the Westlaw contract for any Council members who may have been momentarily dropped from teleconference. DISCUSSION FOLLOWED between Representatives Johnson and Kito, and Mr. Gardner regarding the contract with LexisNexis for publishing hard copy statutes; the possibility of moving away from printed statutes and getting more online passwords in future contract negotiations; how the Legislature may be subsidizing the cost of Alaska statutes in hard copy for other entities who might not otherwise be able to afford them; other state's that have their statutes online only; and whether there was enough usage to justify the passwords for which the Legislature pays. A roll call vote was taken. YEAS: Meyer, Coghill, MacKinnon, Micciche, Chenault, Johnson, Kito, Herron, Stevens NAYS: None The motion passed 9-0. b. Stoel Rives Contract  2:57:30 PM VICE CHAIR HERRON moved that Legislative Council approve an amendment to the legal services contract with Stoel Rives LLP, in the amount of $150,000 to pay for past legal services and to address the current procurement claim and any further proceedings regarding the lease of 716 W 4th Avenue. MR. GARDNER said that the Legislature owed Stoel Rives about $100,000 and the matter, in his professional opinion, is not over yet. Without getting into too much detail in a public session, he said 716 W Fourth Avenue LLC, has until tomorrow to file an appeal and, in the event that they do, he wanted the ability to be able to pay Stoel Rives to represent the Legislature until the new incoming Legislative Council is established with the 30th Legislature and this issue can be further addressed. The amendment before Council will bring the Legislature current with Stoel Rives and make available funds for work that may come up in this transition period. If there was no appeal, no additional funds would be spent. CHAIR STEVENS said that Stoel Rives have been tremendous to work with and have done a nice job in assisting the Legislature through a tedious process. A roll call vote was taken. YEAS: Meyer, Coghill, MacKinnon, Micciche, Chenault, Johnson, Kito, Herron, Stevens NAYS: None The motion passed 9-0. VIII. OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS - EXECUTIVE SESSION  a. Furlough Policy  b. Capitol Security  c. Benson Building Update (no action needed on this item)    3:00:07 PM VICE CHAIR HERRON moved that Legislative Council go into Executive Session under Uniform Rule 22(B)(1), discussion of matters, the immediate knowledge of which would adversely affect the finances of a government unit and 22(B)(3), discussion of a matter that may, by law, be required to be confidential. He asked that the following individuals remain in the room: Pam Varni, Katrina Matheny, Brian Messiner, Elisha Martin, Tanci Mintz and any legislative staff working for Council members or manager of the Legislature's support agencies to remain in the room or online. We also welcome any Legislator that is not on Council to remain in the room or online. A roll call vote was taken. YEAS: Meyer, Coghill, MacKinnon, Micciche, Chenault, Johnson, Kito, Herron, Stevens NAYS: None The motion to go into Executive Session passed 9-0. Legislative Council went into executive session. 5:02:39 PM Legislative Council came out of executive session. b. Capitol Security  VICE CHAIR HERRON moved that Legislative Council adopt the security vulnerability assessment recommendation by Doyon Universal Services to provide security defensive tools to the security team, which includes, firearms and less than lethal force options such as Tasers. Security personnel reporting to Capitol Chief of Security will be compensated at a range 16. STEVE DAIGLE, Chief of Security, in response to a question from Senator Micciche about cost, noted that it would be an increase of $54,000 annually for salaries, as well as approximately $10,000 for additional equipment and $600 per year for necessary training. DISCUSSION FOLLOWED regarding what "less than lethal" training options were available. With no further questions, a roll call vote was taken. YEAS: Meyer, Coghill, MacKinnon, Micciche, Chenault, Johnson, Kito, Herron, Stevens NAYS: None The motion passed 9-0. a. Furlough Policy  5:05:50 PM VICE CHAIR HERRON moved that Legislative Council adopt the Furlough Policy as per the attached draft. REPRESENTATIVE KITO offered a conceptual amendment that Council exempt Legislative Finance, Legal Services and Legislative Security from the Furlough Policy. In response to a request for clarification by Senator Micciche, Representative Kito said that the exemption was appropriate in that from the perspective of security, we will be required to have security at the building, so if individuals are on furlough, contractors will still have to be hired to do that work. In regard to Legislative Finance and Legal Services, they're work load is not driven by their management alone but driven by Legislators. It's very difficult to manage that workload without creating limitations, which they don't have the statutory or policy authority to do on the work that Legislators ask them to do. Because they don't have control over those items, he didn't think it was equitable for those divisions to be subject to furlough. CHAIR STEVENS said he understood that Legislative Budget & Audit Committee could make the decision to exempt the officers. In effect, if Council passes this amendment, they would only be making Legislative Affairs comply with the furlough policy. DISCUSSION FOLLOWED clarifying which sections are proposed as being exempt from the furlough policy. PAM VARNI, Executive Director of the Legislative Affairs Agency, noted that the last bullet of the Furlough Policy would enable those sections to still work, it's just that employees would be giving up five days of personal leave without compensation; then it would be fair to everybody. DISCUSSION FOLLOWED regarding leave availability. Also clarification that Legislative Budget & Audit would not be included in this amendment since they report to a different committee. SENATE PRESIDENT MEYER proposed to make an amendment to the amendment. He said if Legislative Finance and Legal Services are too busy to take furlough, then Legislators need to better police themselves to not put such a burden on those sections. He believed that LB&A and Security are a little different, and since Budget & Audit are not part of this amendment, he would like to amend the amendment to only include Security. He said he was sympathetic to the fact that all the other sections are taking furlough; if the Judicial Branch can do it, we should be able to do it as well. DISCUSSION FOLLOWED to clarify the amendment and the amendment to the amendment. SKIFF LOBAUGH, Human Resources Officer, noted for members that the policy does not require any section or individual to take furlough. He said the policy just says that if a section or an individual is required to take furlough, this this is how it would be implemented. The Legislature decided who would take furlough; this policy does not say who was required to take furlough. The amendment that says, for instance, to exempt Legal Services, those in Legal Services who have already taken furlough, which was implemented by Memo of Agreement, would lose a holiday if the furlough they had taken fell next to a holiday, because they wouldn't have the protection of the policy to allow them to use furlough under holiday or health insurance protection. He again stated that the proposed policy is an administrative tool that does not require someone to take furlough; it simply says that if an individual is required to take furlough, Personnel will process it under these guidelines to maintain benefits. DISCUSSION FOLLOWED further defining what the policy language accomplished; and whether the policy was retroactive. CHAIR STEVENS asked for a roll call vote on the amendment to the amendment, which was to allow only Security to be exempted from the Furlough Policy. A roll call vote was taken on amendment to amendment. YEAS: Meyer, Coghill, MacKinnon, Micciche NAYS: Chenault, Johnson, Kito, Herron, Stevens The amendment to the amendment failed 4-5. A roll call vote was taken on the amendment to exempt Legislative Finance, Legal Services, and Security from the Furlough Policy. YEAS: Kito NAYS: Meyer, Coghill, MacKinnon, Micciche, Chenault, Johnson, Herron, Stevens The amendment failed 1-8. DISCUSSION FOLLOWED regarding potential budget impacts of adopting the Furlough Policy. Explanation that the policy is simply allowing Personnel to process furlough taken without affecting an employee's benefits, holiday pay, etc. Without this policy, Personnel would process furlough as leave without pay, which would negatively impact employees. There being no further discussion, a roll call vote was taken on the motion. YEAS: Meyer, Coghill, MacKinnon, Micciche, Chenault, Kito, Herron, Stevens NAYS: Johnson The motion adopting the Furlough Policy passed 8-1. There being no further business before the committee, Legislative Council adjourned at 5:25 p.m. 5:25:47 PM DRAFT - Legislative Branch Furlough Policy - DRAFT When necessary for budgetary constraints or for other operational needs Legislative Branch employees may be placed on furlough as directed by their hiring authority. Statutory hiring authority for the Legislative Branch is set out in AS 24.10.200 (House and Senate Employees), AS 24.10.210 (Employees of Legislative Agencies), AS 24.20.050 (Executive Director and Staff Legislative Affairs Agency), AS 24.20.221 (Staff Legislative Finance Division), AS 24.55.070 (Staff and Delegation Office of the Ombudsman), and AS 24.65.070 (Staff and Delegation Office of Victims' Rights). • Any day or period for which an employee is furloughed does not change an employee's merit anniversary date, leave base date, or leave accrual. • Any day or period for which an employee is furloughed does not jeopardize an employee's eligibility for health insurance. • Any day or period for which an employee is furloughed does not jeopardize an employee's holiday eligibility. • Any day or period for which an employee is furloughed does not count as leave without pay for replacement of seasonal leave without pay. • Any day or period for which an employee is furloughed does reduce the amount allocated to each individual legislator's personal service budgets and therefore cannot be used to augment the individual legislators range allotment. • Any day or period for which an employee is furloughed does count toward their mandatory leave requirements. • An employee may give up five days of personal leave without compensation in lieu of taking five days of furlough. Employees are "furloughed" when they are directed not to report for work and required to take a period of unpaid absence from work. In order to count as a furlough the absence must be at least a full day in length. Furlough can only be done in full day increments and cannot be done on an hour for hour basis. 5:25:47 PM