Put Legislature back in charge of employee compensation decisions

Though it remains to be seen if the Legislature will take the action necessary to balance the budget in a special session, recent developments once again underscore the importance of restoring lawmakers' authority to make changes to state employee compensation. According to the Washington Federation of State Employees, the Governor and union agreed last night to change the health-care ratio for state employees from the current 88-12 split to 85-15. This is far below the 74-26 split the Governor had previously said was necessary . . . READ MORE