The Legislative Department is responsible for pursuing the legislative and political agenda established by PEF and articulated through the president.

State Budget

            PEF staked its claim in the state budget debate early on with an address by President Benson to a January legislative hearing on “Workforce Issues” held shortly after Governor Pataki released his proposed Executive Budget for 2001-02. Key issues of concern included the closure of Hutchings and Middletown Psychiatric Centers, the transfer of childrens’ psychiatric services to several adult facilities, and short staffing in many state agencies. On August 2, the Legislature passed what they described as a “baseline budget“. It included maintenance of effort funding for state agency operations, but eliminated large amounts of reappropriations of unspent funds from last year. At this writing, legislative leaders hope to return to Albany in September to develop a supplemental budget that could add funding for various programs and hopefully will deal with several unresolved major policy issues. PEF is continuing to make its views known at the Capitol on key budget issues that include stopping closure or consolidation of mental health facilities, providing funding to maintain group homes and adequate teacher ratios in the Office of Children and Family Services, providing for full funding of the “Superfund” program to clean up toxic waste, and adding funds to enhance Parole supervision, educational programs in state correctional facilities and state operated drug treatment programs for prisoners, parolees and others in need of treatment.

Legislative Agenda

            Prior to the start of 2001, Governor Pataki signed into law several PEF-supported bills approved by the Legislature in 2000. These included “safe needles” legislation to protect nurses (Chapter 558), improvements to the “veterans buy-back” law of 1999 (Chapter 548), a “tier equity” law that reduces pension penalties for members who retire with less than 30 years of service credit (Chapter 553), and improved death benefits for members of a public retirement system (Chapter 554).

            During the 2001 legislative session, PEF secured passage of several bills that now await the Governor’s consideration. They include PEF’s “shadow agency” bill, expansion of an injured employee’s leave time from one year to two years, paid leave for public employees asked by the Red Cross to serve as disaster relief volunteers, paid leave for employees serving as organ or bone marrow donors, a bill giving public employees the right to non-attorney union representation during investigations by the Inspector General, and a hazardous duty differential for state Department of Transportation employees working in proximity to heavy traffic conditions.

Member Involvement

            PEF members mobilized in support of the legislative agenda during PEF Lobby Day (March 6-7) and PEF Nurses Lobby Day (May 14-15). The PAL Network was also charged with contacting individual legislators on four occasions during the year concerning Office of Mental Health, nursing and key budget issues. Staff visited PEF regions during the year to attend legislative receptions, member meetings and to provide legislative and political training. Additional sources of legislative information include the PEF Information Line, The Communicator magazine and the PAC/PAL Newsletter, Connection.

Political Action

            PEF flexed its political muscle during Campaign 2000 by helping to elect Republicans and Democrats in 18 “priority” races around the state with a success rate of 100 percent. These included some very competitive state Senate races and the election of two non-incumbent state Assembly candidates. PEF’s grassroots campaign support network continues to expand and complement the union’s general support for lawmakers who support public employees and our legislative agenda.  PEF also played a key role in supporting Hillary Clinton’s successful campaign for U.S. Senate.

COPE / Voter Registration

            The number of COPE participants increased again this year and now totals more than 2,200.  Voter registration remains a priority issue and cards and forms are available in all PEF regional offices. Statewide PAC meetings are held regularly in Albany to examine regional political activity, explore key local issues and monitor PEF’s political support efforts.