This afternoon the House passed Senate Bill 6503 which focuses on state savings through the reduction of compensation-related changes for state employees.  The bill is referred to by many as the “furlough bill”.

The bill adopted by the House this afternoon, in a vote of 50-38, differs from the version of the bill passed by the Senate on the first day of special session.  The underlying bill (Senate Bill 6503) was amended on the House floor to:

• Provide that alternate higher education plans may provide for reductions to operations, as well as compensation.
• Exempt agency closure requirements  for functions of the Attorney General’s Office directly related to civil, criminal, or administrative actions, the Office of Financial Management (OFM), during sessions of the Legislature, and the Labor Relations Office of OFM through November 1, 2010.
• Allow bargaining between the governor and each exclusive bargaining representative, rather than the Governor negotiating with a single coalition of all of the exclusive bargaining representatives, in the event that general government state agencies do not have approved reduction plans.
• Exempt the operations of the Office of the Insurance Commissioner that are funded by industry regulatory fees from the requirement of agency closure days or approved alternate compensation expenditure reduction plans.

Senate Bill 6503 now goes to the Senate for concurrence on the changes made by the House. If the Senate does not concur on the amendments the bill will go to conference.