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Key Votes in the NYS Legislature

The 2008 CSEA voting record shows the importance of political action. The following bills represent several of the key votes determined to be Important to CSEA members.

KEY VOTE #1
PERMANENT AGENCY SHOP - (S. 7272 / A. 10030)

Chapter 338 of the Laws of 2008
Topping the list of accomplishments was legislation making the state's agency shop fee legislation permanent. The law requires that free riders that benefit from union contracts and union representation pay an agency shop fee equivalent to the union dues that members pay. The law has been renewed periodically for more the past 30 years, requiring significant CSEA effort each time.

KEY VOTE #2
RETIREE HEALTH INSURANCE - (A. 9393A / S. 6457A)

Awaiting action by the Governor
This CSEA priority legislation would place a one-year moratorium on local governments from unilaterally altering or eliminating retiree health benefits. The bill also requires a study to determine how to provide health insurance to future retirees in the most cost effective manner.

KEY VOTE #3
BREAST AND CANCER LEAVE TIME - (A. 10035A / S. 8077)

Chapter 391 of the Laws of 2008
In a follow-up to last year's legislation, this bill will allow all public employees to have four hours of annual leave time for breast and prostate cancer screening. The legislation clarifies the original bill to insure that employees are paid for the four hours and not charged any leave time. In addition, the bill clarifies eligibility issues by ensuring that all public employees are allowed to take this annual paid leave.

KEY VOTE #4
MANDATORY OVERTIME FOR NURSES - (A. 11711 / S. 8637)

Chapter 493 of the Laws of 2008
The legislature passed a bill that will ban mandatory overtime for registered nurses and LPN's in hospitals, nursing homes and public/private health care facilities. The law will go into effect on July 1, 2009.

KEY VOTE #5
DIRECT CARE WORKERS COMMISSION - (S. 4438A / A. 11239)

Veto 39 of 2008
Both houses passed legislation that would create a commission to study the work hours of direct care workers in New York State. This study, we fully believe, would have shown the desperate need for these direct care agencies to hire more staff in order to cut down on mandated overtime. Currently, some direct care workers are mandated to work shifts of upwards of 16 hours in length. This study will allow the public to see what we already know: more staff is desperately needed to help care for our state's most vulnerable citizens.

KEY VOTE #6
SUNY U-GRADES - (S. 6780B / A. 11126A1

Awaiting action by the Governor
This bill would prohibit S.U.N.Y. from designating positions into the unclassified service if a similar position already exists in the classified service. The union would have the option of objecting to the change and petitioning PERB as a last resort.

KEY VOTE #7
18-MONTH WORKERS COMPENSATION - (S. 6778 / A. 10553)

Veto 45 of 2008
Both houses passed legislation to allow public employees, who are disabled by on-the-job injuries, to have an additional 6 months of workers compensation leave. Currently, public employees are only entitled to 12 months of workers compensation, although many are not able to fully recuperate prior to this time expiring.

KEY VOTE #8
UNION LEAVE TIME - (A. 11110A /S.8199A)

This bill would allow local government employees eligible for organizational leave time to serve in labor union positions. This bill simply codifies an existing practice that is already available to state employees.