3. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FUNDING
GPR $139,000
Governor: Provide $69,500 annually for agency information technology costs. The funding would be used during 1999-00 to complete the master lease payments on the agency's local area network and to make other unspecified system upgrades. Thereafter, the agency indicates that the funds would be used for unspecified IT maintenance and upgrade projects. During the 1997-99 biennium, $69,500 was reallocated to provide one-time financing for the agency's IT master lease payments and other IT expenses. These funds were not provided on an on-going basis since the agency's master lease was expected to be retired in 1999. The Governor's recommendation would add $69,500 annually of on-going IT funding to the agency's base.
4. STATE EMPLOYE RECRUITMENT POSITION FUNDING CONVERSION
Funding Positions
GPR - $104,000 -1.00
PR 104,000 1.00
Total $0 0.00
Governor: Shift $52,000 annually and 1.0 state employe recruiter position from GPR to PR funding to reflect the conversion of this existing position to funding provided through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant administered by DWD. This position (an executive human resources specialist) is currently assigned to the Division of Merit Recruitment and Selection and functions as an affirmative action recruiter in the Milwaukee area. Establish a new PR annual appropriation under DER to which would be credited funds received from other agencies to undertake interagency projects. Modify an existing TANF block grant administration and operations appropriation under DWD to authorize the transfer of TANF funds to the new DER interagency projects appropriation account.
[Bill Sections: 474 and 591]
5. INCREASED TRAINING PROGRAM COSTS
PR $125,900
Governor: Provide increased expenditure authority of $57,000 in 1999-00 and $68,900 in 2000-01 in the agency's employment development and training services appropriation: (a) $50,400 in 1999-00 and $62,300 in 2000-01 for increased costs of in-house and contractor-provided training courses; (b) $4,100 annually for LTE clerical support; and (c) $2,500 annually for permanent property purchases. All of these additional funds would be placed in unallotted reserve. The Executive Budget Book indicates that the release of the funds from unallotted reserve would be contingent upon DER demonstrating to DOA that the demand for training courses and the associated revenues raised would be sufficient to support the higher expenditure authority provided. The revenues to support these increased expenditures would come from fees collected for contractor-provided employe training courses and for a variety of employe recruitment, compensation and management training sessions offered by in-house staff.
6. ACCOUNTING OF MISCELLANEOUS REVENUES FROM OTHER AGENCIES
PR $32,000
Governor: Create a new PR continuing appropriation account to which would be credited all monies received by DER for its providing of employment services and materials to other state agencies. Provide expenditure authority of $16,000 annually under the new appropriation for this purpose. The revenues credited to this appropriation account would include reimbursements for such shared activities as career fairs or conferences where other agencies have agreed to share the costs of the undertaking with DER. While the agency in the past has attempted to treat such revenues from other agencies as refunds of expenditures, state accounting procedures specify that these receipts should be recorded as revenues and the previously offset costs should be recognized as expenditures. Such expenditures would now be recorded in this new appropriation.
[Bill Section: 590]
7. ADDITIONAL STAFFING FOR THE WISCONSIN CITY AND COUNTY TESTING SERVICE
Funding Positions
PR $83,600 1.00
Governor: Provide the following additional resources to the agency's Wisconsin City and County Testing Service: $36,700 in 1999-00 and $46,900 in 2000-00 and 1.0 human resources specialist position for staff and other support costs associated with providing additional personnel support services for local units of government. Provisions of 1997 Wisconsin Act 237 newly authorized the agency to provide any type of personnel service, rather than just testing services, to local units of government. Revenues to support these increased expenditures would come from fee-for-service charges to local units of government for such assistance as the planning of recruitment strategies, implementing affirmative action plans, developing position descriptions and conducting wage surveys.
Although the Executive Budget Book indicates that all of these additional funds have been placed in unallotted reserve pending DER's submission to DOA of a marketing and business plan supporting this program expansion, no such placement of the funds has actually been included in the bill. A technical amendment would be needed to accomplish the Governor's intent.
8. ARBITRATION COST INCREASES
PR $30,000
Governor: Provide increased expenditure authority of $15,000 annually to fund the cost of fees for additional private sector arbitrators and court reporters to hear arbitrations of grievances arising under state collective bargaining agreements. Depending on the provisions of the applicable collective bargaining agreement, the employing agency and the labor union involved either equally divide the costs assessed by DER for the arbitrators and court reporters or the losing party pays all such costs. Base level expenditure authority for contract arbitration costs is currently $70,000 annually.
9. INCREASED PUBLICATIONS COSTS
PR $68,800
Governor: Provide additional expenditure authority of $27,400 in 1999-00 and $41,400 in 2000-01 for increased publications costs relating to a greater frequency of reprinting current forms and documents, postage and mailing increases, development of an electronic documents distribution system and publications marketing activities. Revenues to support these increased expenditures would come from increased subscription and position vacancy announcement charges for the Current Opportunities Bulletin.
10. AGENCY REORGANIZATION
Governor: Delete the separate numeric appropriation (accounting units below the legislative appropriation level) structure for the agency's Division of Classification and Compensation and transfer the base level funding for that Division to the numeric appropriation set up for the agency’s Division of Collective Bargaining. This transfer would establish a single consolidated numeric appropriation for the newly created Division of Compensation and Labor Relations. This recommended consolidation of existing numeric appropriations reflects the merger of the two divisions as part of an agency reorganization approved by DOA on September 2, 1998. Under this reorganization, base level funding of $1,144,000 GPR, $15,200 PR and 19.0 GPR positions annually would be transferred to the consolidated numeric appropriation, resulting in total base level funding for the new Division of $1,934,300 GPR, $85,400 PR and 30.0 GPR positions annually. There would be no net change to overall agency base level funding or position authorizations as a result of this consolidation.
EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION
Budget Change Items
1. STANDARD BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS
GPR $80,800
PR - 180,800
Total - $100,000
Governor: Provide $40,400 GPR and -$90,400 PR annually for standard budget adjustments for: (a) full funding of continuing salaries and fringe benefits costs ($11,800 GPR and -$90,500 PR annually); (b) full funding of financial services charges ($500 GPR and $100 PR annually); and (c) fifth week of vacation as cash ($28,100 GPR annually).
2. REQUIRED STATE OPERATIONS FUNDING LAPSE
GPR - $99,600
Governor: Reduce base level funding by $49,800 annually in the agency's general program operations appropriation to make permanent a 2% annual lapse requirement originally imposed by 1997 Wisconsin Act 27.
3. DATA TRANSMISSION AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT COST INCREASES
GPR $38,700
Governor: Provide $10,200 in 1999-00 and $28,500 in 2000-01 for the following data-related increased operational costs:
High Speed Data Transmission Line. Funding ($10,200 annually) for a T-1 data transmission line rental charges between the agency's new office location at 18 S. Thornton Avenue and the DOA mainframe computer.
Electronic Imaging of Commission Decisions. Funding ($18,300 in 2000-01) for the electronic imaging of the Commission's interest arbitration award file from 1971 to date and the records of Commission's labor relations rulings since 1939. This imaging project would result in a computer searchable database accessible to government and private employers and to labor unions.
4. FEE FOR PROVIDING AD HOC GRIEVANCE ARBITRATION PANEL SERVICES
PR REV $24,000
PR $24,000
Governor: Require that the Commission assess and collect a fee each time it is requested to assemble an ad hoc panel of arbitrators to serve as an arbitrator in a grievance arbitration proceeding involving unions and employers. [WERC staff have indicated that the intent of the agency's request was to have the fee apply to situations where a list of individual arbitrators is provided to the parties by the WERC for their use in selecting a single individual to serve as an arbitrator of the grievance. A technical modification would be required to accomplish this intent.]
Provide increased expenditure authority of $12,000 annually for support costs associated with providing these ad hoc grievance arbitration panels and the training of individuals to be included on WERC's roster of approved arbitrators. This level of expenditure authority is based on a projected arbitration panel fee of $30 and approximately 400 panel requests annually. Require the Commission to promulgate rules establishing a schedule of fees for assembling a grievance arbitration panel. Modify the Commission's existing collective bargaining training appropriation to permit the crediting of these new fees to that appropriation account.
A grievance arbitration panel subject to this new fee assessment provision would be defined as one consisting of individuals who are neither employes nor members of the Commission and who act to resolve a dispute over the interpretation or application of a collective bargaining agreement. Under current law, the Commission assesses a $250 filing fee from parties who request fact-finding, mediation or arbitration services, but only if these services are performed by employes or members of the Commission.
Stipulate that the new fee would be assessed against the party requesting the ad hoc arbitration panel and could be in addition to any other applicable fees assessed by the Commission. If the required fee were not paid at the time of the filing of the panel request, specify that the WERC could not act to establish the panel until the required fee had been paid. These provisions would apply to ad hoc grievance arbitration panel requests from either unions or employers under the Employment Peace Act (applicable to private sector employment), the Municipal Employment Relations Act (applicable to municipal government employment, including school district employment) or the State Employment Labor Relations Act (applicable to state government employment). Specify that the new fee would first apply to ad hoc grievance arbitration panel requests made after the general effective date of the biennial budget act.
[Bill Sections: 368, 2033, 2036, 2038 and 9316(1)]
5. RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING OF ADDITIONAL OUTSIDE ARBITRATORS
PR $50,000
Governor: Provide $25,000 annually in the Commission's collective bargaining training appropriation for the costs of the recruitment and training of additional individuals who are neither employes nor members of the Commission to act as arbitrators under WERC auspices. These increased expenditures would be supported from fees that are received from the training participants.
6. BASE SUPPLIES AND SERVICES FUNDING
PR $100,000
Governor: Provide $50,000 annually for general supplies and service costs incurred by WERC staff currently providing fact-finding, mediation and arbitration services on a fee-for-service basis. The increased expenditure authority would be provided under the Commission's mediation and arbitration filing fees appropriation. Revenues come from fees which WERC assesses for the filing of complaints regarding unfair labor practices and for requests for mediation or arbitration services. Currently, 5.0 FTE employes are authorized and funded under this appropriation; however, there is no base level supplies and services funding budgeted for these staff positions. The funds would be used for such costs as office space rental, telephone service and employe travel expenses.
7. PROHIBITED SUBJECTS OF BARGAINING APPLICABLE TO ALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Governor: Provide that no school district employer would be required to meet and confer with its represented employes for the purpose of collective bargaining concerning any of the following matters:
Reassignments Due to Charter School Operations. Any school district employer would be prohibited from bargaining over matters relating to: (a) the reassignment of its employes, with or without regard to seniority, as a result of a decision to contract with anyone to operate a charter school or to convert a school to a charter school; or (b) the impact of any such reassignments on the wages, hours or condition of employment of the employes who perform the services.
Reassignments Due to Closing Low-Performance Schools. Any school district employer would be prohibited from bargaining over matters relating to: (a) the reassignment of its employes, with or without regard to seniority, as a result of a decision to close (or subsequently reopen) a low-performance school; or (b) the impact of any such reassignments on the wages, hours or condition of employment of the employes who perform the services.
Contracts with Nonsectarian Schools or Agencies. Any school district employer would be prohibited from bargaining over matters relating to: (a) any decision to contract with a private nonsectarian school or agency to provide educational programs; or (b) the impact of any such decision on the wages, hours or condition of employment of the employes who perform services for the school district employer.
Provide that these new prohibited subjects of bargaining provisions would first apply to collective bargaining agreements for which notice of commencement of contract negotiations have been filed with the WERC upon the general effective date of the biennial budget act.
Under current law, the above prohibited subjects of bargaining apply only to the Board of School Directors of the Milwaukee Public Schools. Under the proposed modifications, all school district employers (including the Milwaukee Public Schools) would be subject to these prohibitions.
[Bill Sections: 2035, 2109, 2113, 2133 and 9316(2)] 7
