5502 AMH TR H2573.1

                                      By Representative K. Schmidt

SB 5502 - H COMM AMD ADOPTED 04/12/99

By Committee on Transportation

    Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:

    "Sec. 1.  RCW 47.64.220 and 1989 c 327 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Prior to collective bargaining, the marine employees' commission shall conduct a salary survey.  The results of the survey shall be published in a report which shall be a public document comparing wages, hours, employee benefits, and conditions of employment of involved ferry employees with those of public and private sector employees in states along the west coast of the United States, including Alaska, and in British Columbia doing directly comparable but not necessarily identical work, giving consideration to factors peculiar to the area and the classifications involved.  Such survey report shall be for the purpose of disclosing generally prevailing levels of compensation, benefits, and conditions of employment.  It shall be used to guide generally but not to define or limit collective bargaining between the parties.  The commission shall make such other findings of fact as the parties may request during bargaining or impasse.

(2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, salary and employee benefit information collected from private employers that identifies a specific employer with the salary and employee benefit rates which that employer pays to its employees is not subject to public disclosure under chapter 42.17 RCW.

(3) A person or entity, having reason to believe that the salary survey results are inaccurate, may submit a petition to the state auditor requesting an audit of the data upon which the salary survey results are based.  The state auditor shall review and analyze all data collected for the salary survey, including proprietary information, but is prohibited from disclosing the salary survey data to any other person or entity, except by court order.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 42.17 RCW to read as follows:

    Salary and employee benefit information collected under RCW 47.64.220(1) and described in RCW 47.64.220(2) is exempt from disclosure under this chapter except as provided in RCW 47.64.220.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  Section 1, chapter . . ., Laws of 1999 (section 1 of this act) is a clarification of existing law and applies retroactively."

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