HOUSE BILL REPORT

                 SSB 5838

             As Reported By House Committee On:

                          Education

Title:  An act relating to personal holiday leave sharing for school district employees.

Brief Description:  Permitting personal holiday leave sharing for school district employees.

Sponsors:  Senate Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Senators McAuliffe, Eide and Rasmussen).

Brief History:

  Committee Activity:

Education:  3/22/99, 3/25/99 [DP].

           Brief Summary of Substitute Bill

$Under the state's leave sharing policies, school employees who have negotiated personal holidays may transfer to other eligible employees the number of personal holidays that state employees are entitled to receive and transfer.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Majority Report:  Do pass.  Signed by 13 members:  Representatives Quall, Democratic Co-Chair; Talcott, Republican Co-Chair; Haigh, Democratic Vice Chair; Schindler, Republican Vice Chair; Carlson; Cox; Keiser; Rockefeller; Santos; D. Schmidt; Schual-Berke; Stensen and Sump.

Staff:  Susan Morrissey (786-7111).

Background:

A state law describes the state's legal holidays.  The law includes a provision for one paid personal holiday for employees of the state and its political subdivisions.  School district employees and nonclassified employees of state colleges and universities are specifically excluded from the entitlement to a paid personal holiday.  However, school district employees may obtain personal holidays through collective bargaining.

By law, state employees may share accumulated leave under certain conditions.  The definition of state employees includes employees of school districts and educational service districts.  The law permits these employees to share annual leave, sick leave, and personal holidays with other employees who meet certain conditions.  Before employees are eligible to receive shared leave, they must have exhausted their own accumulated leave days.  In addition, the receiving employees must be either suffering from or taking care of a household member who is suffering from an extraordinary illness, injury, impairment or mental or physical condition.  The provision allowing employees to share personal holidays was adopted by the Legislature in 1996.

School districts may establish and administer leave sharing programs for school employees.  The Superintendent of Public Instruction is responsible for the adoption of standards for this authority.  The standards are intended to ensure that school district policies are consistent with state leave sharing laws and that the policies do not significantly increase the cost of providing leave for school employees.  The superintendent has adopted rules that describe the conditions under which annual and sick leave may be shared.  The rules, which have not been updated since 1995, do not include a provision for sharing personal holidays.

Summary of Bill:

Under the state's leave sharing law, in any year, school district employees who have negotiated personal holidays may transfer to other eligible employees the number of personal holidays that state employees are entitled to receive and transfer.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  Under the state's leave sharing policies, unlike state employees, school employees cannot give their personal holidays to other employees who are faced with catastrophic illnesses or other personal tragedies.  This legislation will allow school employees to have the same rights to help each other that state employees enjoy.  It's passage is a matter of fairness and compassion.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  Doug Nelson, Public School Employees; Gary King, Washington Education Association; and Karen Davis, Superintendent of Public Instruction.