"Decking" refers to the deadline a bill must be in it's final form to be considered for third passage by either the Senate or the House. The purpose of the decking deadlines is to give legislators sufficient time to read and understand a bill they are considering for passage on third or final reading. In addition, the second decking deadline also serves to give a bill's originating house notice of any amendments made by the non-originating house and time to consider whether to agree to the amendments or to refer the bill to a conference committee to resolve areas of disagreement. For more on the process see the Legislative Timetables and Process.
Wage Standards is still watching
The following measures have all been heard and passed their final committee referrals in the non-originating house and we expect conference committees to be convened some time next week after the measure is reported out.
- Sick leave in HB4, HD1 SD1
- Penalties for Chapter 388 in HB208 HD2 SD1
- Siblings and death of a family member added to Family Leave HB213 HD 1 SD1
- Special prevailing rates for rental housing projects HB 1179 HD2 SD2 and it's companion SB1105 SD2 HD2
- Adds employers of correction officers to those allowed to use lie detectors in the workplace HB1130 HD1 SD1;
- The Executive Budget Bill HB100 HD1 SD1
Next steps
DLIR will be watching and waiting to see who will be on the conference committees, especially for the Executive Budget Bill HB100 HD1 SD1, as the Senate did not concur with the House on the addition of one new Labor Law Enforcement Specialist III (see page 631 of the Budget Worksheet SD1) for the Wage Standards Division. The LLES position requested in the Executive Budget is an important part of the Wage Standards Division sustainability model if we are to avoid the dramatic backlog of cases that exist today. It also makes financial sense to have an entry level person doing essential entry level work, rather than senior personnel being drawn away from their primary responsibilities of advanced investigations and end up paying overtime to move the work forward.
DLIR will be reaching out to the Conference Committees in written form and in-person to get the important points across that we are aware of. We urge everyone to participate in the process.
