| VETO MESSAGE ON 3SHB 2585 |
| March 30, 2012 |
| To the Honorable Speaker and Members, |
| The House of Representatives of the State of Washington |
| Ladies and Gentlemen: |
| I am returning herewith, without my approval as to Section 2, Third Substitute House Bill 2585 entitled: |
"AN ACT Relating to creating efficiencies for institutions of higher education." |
| Section 2 allows institutions of higher education to implement higher education health care special pay plans without the approval of the State Human Resources Director. Higher education health care special pay plans have existed for many years and the institutions do an excellent job in demonstrating the need for special pay ranges to be competitive with positions of a similar nature in the locality of the institutions. However, review of special pay plans by the State Human Resources Director prior to implementation is a necessary step to assess the impact of special pay ranges to the state's compensation structure. Only the State Human Resources Director can provide this enterprise wide perspective. |
| For this reason, I am vetoing Section 2 of Third Substitute House Bill 2585. |
| However, I appreciate the needs of institutions to find efficiencies in this process. Therefore, I am directing the State Human Resources Director to work with institutions of higher education to identify opportunities at the administrative level to streamline the process for reviewing special pay plans. |
| With the exception of Section 2, Third Substitute House Bill 2585 is approved. |
| Respectfully submitted, |
| Christine Gregoire |
| Governor |