| VETO MESSAGE ON ESSB 6503 |
| April 27, 2010 |
| To the Honorable President and Members, |
| The Senate of the State of Washington |
| Ladies and Gentlemen: |
| I am returning herewith, without my approval as to Section 2, Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6503 entitled: |
"AN ACT Relating to the operations of state agencies." |
| This bill directs state agencies to achieve reductions in employee compensation costs. Section 2 of this bill would require additional compensation reductions of $10 million General Fund State from Washington Management Service and exempt managers, who comprise less than five percent of state employees. A cut of this size, over such a small base, is too large to be practical. For example, it would take nearly two weeks of temporary layoff -- over and above the ten days of layoff due to agency closures included in this bill -- to reach this level of compensation reduction. |
| Managers will be subject to the temporary layoffs in proportion to all staff. Imposing this added reduction would interfere with recruiting and retaining qualified and experienced workers. It would likely cause salary inversion, making it particularly hard to promote senior state employees with technical skills into management jobs. |
| For these reasons I have vetoed Section 2 of Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6503. |
| With the exception of Section 2 of Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6503 is approved. |
| Respectfully submitted, |
| Christine Gregoire |
| Governor |