H-285                _______________________________________________

                                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 304

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Representatives Belcher and Unsoeld

Read first time 1/23/87 and referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

AN ACT Relating to legal holidays; and amending RCW 1.16.050.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 1, chapter 51, Laws of 1927 as last amended by section 1, chapter 189, Laws of 1985 and RCW 1.16.050 are each amended to read as follows:

          The following are legal holidays:  Sunday; the first day of January, commonly called New Year's Day; the third Monday of January, being celebrated as the anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr.; the third Monday of February to be known as Presidents' Day and to be celebrated as the anniversary of the births of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington; the last Monday of May, commonly known as Memorial Day; the fourth day of July, being the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; the first Monday in September, to be known as Labor Day; the eleventh day of November, to be known as Veterans' Day; the fourth Thursday in November, to be known as Thanksgiving Day; the day immediately following Thanksgiving Day;  the twenty-fourth day of December, to be known as Christmas eve day; and the twenty-fifth day of December, commonly called Christmas Day.

          Employees of the state and its political subdivisions, except employees of school districts and except those nonclassified employees of institutions of higher education who hold appointments or are employed under contracts to perform services for periods of less than twelve consecutive months, shall be entitled to ((one)) two paid holidays per calendar year in addition to those specified in this section.  Each employee of the state or its political subdivisions may select the days on which the employee desires to take the additional holidays provided for herein after consultation with the employer pursuant to guidelines to be promulgated by rule of the appropriate personnel authority, or in the case of local government by ordinance or resolution of the legislative authority.

          If any of the above specified state legal holidays are also federal legal holidays but observed on different dates, only the state legal holidays shall be recognized as a paid legal holiday for employees of the state and its political subdivisions except that for port districts and the law enforcement and public transit employees of municipal corporations, either the federal or the state legal holiday, but in no case both, may be recognized as a paid legal holiday for employees.

          Whenever any legal holiday, other than Sunday, falls upon a Sunday, the following Monday shall be the legal holiday.

          Whenever any legal holiday falls upon a Saturday, the preceding Friday shall be the legal holiday.

          Nothing in this section shall be construed to have the effect of adding or deleting the number of paid holidays provided for in an agreement between employees and employers of political subdivisions of the state or as established by ordinance or resolution of the local government legislative authority.

          The legislature declares that the twelfth day of October shall be recognized as Columbus Day but shall not be considered a legal holiday for any purposes.