HB1390 - ericsundberg/legwiki GitHub Wiki

Table of Contents

HB 1390 Human Resource Management, Department of; disclosure of certain information.

Status

House Senate Conference Governor
Committee Floor Committee Floor
Referred to Committee Referred to Subcommittee Subcommittee Committee 1st 2nd 3rd Referred to Committee Referred to Subcommittee Subcommittee Committee 1st 2nd 3rd
General Laws Professions/Occupations On agenda (2/8)

Overview

Summary as Introduced

Department of Human Resource Management; disclosure of certain information. Requires the Department of Human Resource Management to provide any recognized public employee association, upon the request of such association, a list containing the name and work address of each current state employee. The bill requires such association to ensure that the information contained in such list remains confidential and prohibits any mailing sent by such association to a state employee from containing (i) political or partisan content, (ii) commercial advertising, or (iii) the personal information of any state employee.

Patrons

House Patrons

  • Joshua G. Cole (chief patron)

Senate Patrons

  • None

Full Text

01/05/24 House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24104888D PDF

History

Impact Statement

A fiscal impact statement is available for this bill.

Language

The language of HB1390 can be viewed here.

Opening Statement

House Subcommittee Statement

Thank you, Mr. Chair,

I have a substitute for this bill that addresses concerns from the FOIA council and other stakeholders.


Thank you, Mr. Chair,

HB1390 aims to empower state employees in advocating for better conditions by ensuring they are informed and connected.

It mandates the disclosure of employee information to tax-exempt public employee associations for informational purposes only.

This bill promotes our ability to have an informed citizenry.

The bill prohibits political or commercial content and protects employee privacy.

It mirrors successful legislation in other states, such as Oklahoma, and has been confirmed compatible with existing FOIA statutes by the FOIA Council staff attorneys.

I hope it will be the will of this subcommittee to report the bill to full committee.

House Committee Statement

n/a

Floor Statement

n/a

Senate Subcommittee Statement

n/a

Senate Committee Statement

n/a

Talking Points

"Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights."

- Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price, January 8, 1789

In line with the sentiments expressed by Thomas Jefferson in 1789:

  • HB1390 aims to ensure that state employees are aware of the opportunities available to stay
informed and coalesce their collective influences to advocate for better pay, enhanced benefits, reliable telework options, robust workplace protections, and secure retirement benefits, among others.

The bill creates an affirmative disclosure requirement on DHRM to provide, upon request by any tax-exempt, public employee association, a list to such association containing:

  • The names,
  • Government-issued email addresses, and
  • Work mailing addresses of each current state employee.
The public employee association(s) may then use this information to mail information about the purposes, benefits, and services provided by the association, as well as the costs of membership, how to join, or to opt out from future communications.

The bill specifies that:

  • Any mailing sent may NOT contain (1) political or partisan content, (2) commercial
advertising, or (3) the personal information of any state employee;
  • Such association shall ensure that the information provided to it remain confidential;
and
  • That neither the Commonwealth nor DHRM shall be held liable for the content of any
such communication.

HB1390 mirrors language passed numerous other states, in this instance specifically, Oklahoma

We’ve met with the FOIA Council staff attorneys, who confirmed that this language is OK and does not conflict with our existing FOIA statutes

Support and Opposition

Supporting

Opposed

  • DHRM
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