Legislature(2013 - 2014)BUTROVICH 205
02/25/2014 09:00 AM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB106 | |
| SB133 | |
| SB182 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 106 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 133 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 182 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 182-PUBLIC EMPLOYEE SALARY DIFFERENTIALS
10:02:08 AM
CHAIR DYSON, bill sponsor, introduced SB 182, version N. He
noted that his office was asked to consider the bill from the
Administration. He explained that a law from 1977 established a
protocol for Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) or Cost of Living
Differentials (COLD) for employees of the Alaska Marine Highway
System (AMHS) vessels that compared the cost of living in
Seattle, Washington. He pointed out that all of the other state
employee groups have a COLA based upon Anchorage. He said data
shows that the cost of living for Anchorage and Seattle are
virtually equal. He said SB 182, if it passes, will put AMHS
employees on the same COLD system as all the rest of the state
employees. He explained that current bargaining agreements will
not be changed and SB 182 will only be enforced for the
agreements that come in the [future]. He remarked that there
could be a significant savings to the state, especially during
tight budget times.
10:04:25 AM
JOSHUA BANKS, Staff, Senator Dyson, Alaska State Legislature,
Juneau, Alaska, announced that he will provide a brief sectional
for SB 182.
MR. BANKS addressed Section 1 as follows:
Adds a subsection in AS 23.40.075, this is the section
for items that are not subject to bargaining between
the state and public unions for collective bargaining
agreements. This section will prohibit parties from
adjusting the salary of instate employees based on the
difference of the cost of living in Alaska and outside
of Alaska. The purpose of this section is to ensure
the legislative intent of taking out the cost of
living differential and it will not eliminate other
options that the state has and the public unions have
to promote living in the state of Alaska. We are most
certainly in favor of providing incentives for state
employees to live inside the state.
MR. BANKS addressed Section 2 as follows:
Section 2 will repeal AS 23.40.210 and reenacts it
without the statutory requirement to provide the cost
of living differential for employees living outside of
state based on the cost of living differential between
Alaska and Seattle. The cost of living differential is
not necessarily a problematic portion of this statute,
it is the fact that we have to go back to cost of
living differential from 1977 that we felt we ought to
change the statute. We want to ensure that the
benefits for public employees reflect current cost of
living and this statute as it stands limits the
ability to do so. This section also deletes language
used to determine how an employee will be eligible for
the cost of living differential and the language that
is reenacted is currently in the law, so we are not
adding anything to this section.
10:06:59 AM
He addressed Section 3 as follows:
Section 3 ensures that SB 182 will only affect
bargaining agreements settled on or after the
effective date. Agreements passed before the effective
date will still include the cost of living
differential for state employees.
He addressed Section 4 as follows:
Section 4 establishes an immediate effective date.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked what bargaining units SB 182 will
apply to.
MR. BANKS replied that primarily the three maritime unions noted
in the packets presented to the committee that shows the
percentage of the unions that live outside of the state.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if SB 182 will apply to those
bargaining units within the state that have geo-differential
adjustments like Public Safety employees.
MR. BANKS answered that the bill will not affect employees that
currently receive COLD. He said an example is State Troopers
receiving pay adjustments that compensate for living in Bethel
or Nome.
10:08:23 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI addressed the fiscal note and set forth
that the collective bargaining agreement is odd. He asked to
verify that the collective bargaining agreement with the
International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P)
sets a base salary rate with an added cost of living adjustment
for employees that live in Alaska.
MR. BANKS answered yes. He explained that the adjustment is
either paid hourly or a lump sum on top of the monthly salary.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked to clarify that the fiscal note is
$7.6 million. He surmised that SB 182 would keep the rates for
those that live outside the same and drag down the Alaskan
salaries.
CHAIR DYSON asked for the Administration to answer Senator
Wielechowski's question.
10:10:11 AM
NICKI NEAL, Director, Division of Personnel and Labor Relations,
Alaska Department of Administration, Juneau, Alaska.
10:10:17 AM
KATE SHEEHAN, Deputy Director, Labor Relations, Division of
Personnel Labor Relations, Department of Administration, Juneau,
Alaska.
MS. NEAL stated that she would provide background on the cost of
living differential as follows:
AS 23.40.210 requires that collective bargaining
agreements include a pay plan that is designed to
provide a Cost of Living Differential (COLD) between
employees residing in the state and employees outside
of the state. In 1977, that statutory authority was
amended and the amendments were targeted at the marine
units. Essentially, the salaries paid to employees
residing outside of the state were to remain unchanged
until the difference between those salaries and the
salaries paid to employees residing in the state
reflects a difference between the cost of living in
Alaska and Seattle. Essentially, in 1977 the cost of
living in Alaska was much higher than Seattle.
Subsequently, COLD was negotiated into collective
bargaining agreements; it provides a differential to
those living in Alaska. Currently the COLD for the
Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P) and for the Marine
Engineers' Beneficial Association (MEBA), ranged
between $453.80 to $664.40 per pay period; they have
26 pay periods period in a year, those rates last
changed in 2007. The Inlandboatmen's Union, it is
actually added to their hourly rate; they currently
receive approximately $4.06 to $5.05 per hour for
COLD.
10:12:19 AM
CHAIR DYSON asked if the Inlandboatmen's Union members work
something 2,000 hours a year.
MS. NEAL answered yes. She explained that the Inlandboatmen's
Union members work approximately 2,184 hours per year.
She continued to explain COLD as follows:
In 2008, with funding approved by the Legislature, the
Division of Personnel conducted a geographic
differential study and that was done by the McDowell
Group; that study indicates that the cost of living in
Seattle and Anchorage are about equal.
CHAIR DYSON recalled that all of the state's regional
compensation tied to the cost of living is based on Anchorage as
zero and any other sites are plus or minus.
MS. NEAL answered correct. She explained that Anchorage is
considered as the "base."
CHAIR DYSON remarked that those are pretty significant numbers.
He asked if the MM&P members also work 2,184 hours per year.
MS. NEAL answered correct.
CHAIR DYSON mentioned speaking to various union members that
noted that part of the attractiveness of working for AMHS was
due to salary and benefits. AMHS' compensation plan attracts and
keeps qualified people. With the competition for licensed
mariners around North America, recruiting and retention will be
an issue. He asked for someone to address his query and the
Administration's response.
10:15:04 AM
REUBEN YOST, Deputy Commissioner, Alaska Department of
Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF), Juneau, Alaska,
noted that he oversees AMHS. He addressed the situation of
recruitment and retention if SB 182 were to go into effect under
its current version. He said DOT&PF would negotiate base-pays,
taking into account what the drop in pay was for Alaskans. He
noted that DOT&PF does a lot of recruiting for all three
maritime unions, particularly MM&F and MEBA from outside the
state. He pointed out that AMHS has very good people who choose
to work from Seattle or points even further south based on their
salary. He addressed geographic differentials and noted that
except for the crews the three day-boats as follows: MV
Fairweather, MV Chenega, and the MV Lituya; AMHS employees are
not required to live in a particular community. He said AMHS
employees are currently paid COLD regardless of whether they
live near a change-port. He noted that DOT&PF believes it is
appropriate to look at COLA for day-boat crew members due to the
need to live in particular communities because the vessels have
no accommodations.
10:16:10 AM
SENATOR COGHILL joined the committee meeting.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if it is fair to say that if SB 182
passes, compensation for people who live in Seattle or in the
Lower 48 will remain the same and residents of Alaska who work
for the AMHA will receive a pay cut.
MR. YOST answered correct. He specified that the assumption is
nothing changes during negotiations. He noted that DOT&PF is
already considering during negotiations to apply the COLD money
that might go away to the base rate of pay.
10:18:08 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI reiterated that the language in the
collective bargaining agreement is odd and decades old. He
asserted that negotiations without a COLD provision will end up
raising the rates of people in the Lower 48 and keeping
Alaskan's rates flat or low.
MR. YOST replied that Senator Wielechowski's assertion is a
possibility. He noted that right now a person can live wherever
they choose to live. He added that people have a choice to live
in an area with a lower cost of living. He pointed out that AMHS
employees are receiving COLD that was originally put into place
because there was a significantly higher cost of living in
Alaska.
CHAIR DYSON asked to clarify that the compensation for people
that live in Seattle will stay the same.
MR. YOST answered yes, based on SB 182. He specified that his
point in negotiations is that there will be an effort to raise
the base salary for everyone.
CHAIR DYSON said his understanding is if SB 182 passes and COLD
goes away, COLA would be applied as done with other state
employees.
MR. YOST replied that AMHS only has three boats where people
have to live in a given community.
10:20:16 AM
CHAIR DYSON asked to clarify that an employee that lives in
Alaska would get COLD like every other state employee.
MR. YOST answered that he does not believe Chair Dyson's
assumption is correct and deferred to the Department of
Administration.
MS. NEAL specified that the option for the geographic
differential application as it applies to the three marine units
would need to be negotiated through collective bargaining. She
agreed that COLD for the three day-boats would be relatively
easy, but applying COLD would be more difficult for the rest of
the employees. She said negotiating for a COLD is certainly an
option.
CHAIR DYSON asked if all of the other state bargaining units
have the same COLA in their agreements.
MS. NEAL replied yes. She noted that a new rate agreement with
the Labor, Trades and Crafts Unit has yet been obtained, but
others do include it.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI reiterated that SB 182's impact will
increase the wages of Seattle workers and decrease the wages of
Alaska workers.
MR. YOST answered correct. He said the standpoint from DOT&PF
and the Administration is to either keep a COLD inequity in
place forever or do something to address it. He noted the issue
with applying geographical differential for crew members who do
not work on day-boats where individuals are compensated for
choosing to live in the most expensive parts of the state.
10:23:38 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if the Parnell Administration
supports SB 182.
MR. YOST answered yes. He remarked that the current COLD gives
vessel employees tremendous incentive to live in the state and
for nonresident employees collect COLD as well. He said removing
COLD and coming up with some other form of compensation would
free DOT&PF from being involved in residency investigations. He
noted that DOT&PF has quite a few residency cases that typically
go to arbitration and usually DOT&PF prevails. He said DOT&PF
would like to not be in the position of having to investigate
where people have their primary residence.
CHAIR DYSON said he suspected that there will be quite a bit of
public testimony and lots of questions from the committee.
10:25:24 AM
CHAIR DYSON announced that the committee will stand at ease.
10:25:34 AM
CHAIR DYSON announced that public testimony will be taken at the
next committee meeting. He asked that testimony not be repeated.
[SB 182 is held in committee.]
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 106 A.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 106 |
| SB 106 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 106 |
| SB106-DNR-MLW-2-22-14.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 106 |
| SB 106 Work Draft Version N (2).pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 106 |
| SB 133 Bill.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 133 |
| SB 133 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 133 |
| SB 133 Supporting Document.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 133 |
| SB133-DOA-FAC-02-21-14.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 133 |
| SB 133 ADN.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 133 |
| SB 133 AFN Letter to Governor.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 133 |
| SB 133 AFN Resolution.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 133 |
| SB 106 - Summary of Changes to Version N.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 106 |
| SB 182 - Legislation.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 2/27/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 3/4/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 182 |
| SB 182 - Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 2/27/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 3/4/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 182 |
| SB 182 - Section Analysis.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 2/27/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 3/4/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 182 |
| SB182-DOT-AMHS-MVO-2-25-14.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 2/27/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 3/4/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 182 |
| SB 182 - Support Documents - Talking Points.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 2/27/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 3/4/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 182 |
| SB 182 - Support Document - 2011 CBA.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 2/27/2014 9:00:00 AM SSTA 3/4/2014 9:00:00 AM |
SB 182 |