As of today, the Senate and House have both approved separate versions of the 2015-2017 state operating budget. This means leadership from both the House and Senate will now sit down with the Governor and negotiate a final agreement that attempts to reconcile these separate proposals.

This chart illustrates how each budget addresses important issues for DOC members:

As you'll see in the above image, both the Governor and the state House fund our contract and keep health care the same, while the Senate budget rejects our contract, provides an annual raise of $1,000 per employee ($0.48 per hour increase per employee) in each of the next two years, and eliminates health care coverage for spouses who have access to a plan from their employer.

The differences couldn't be clearer. As they enter negotiations, one way you can help is by calling Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler at 360-786-7620, and urge him to support the part of the House budget that funds raises for state employees and keeps our health care coverage the same.