Furlough of executive branch state employees during the 2009-11 fiscal biennium and making an appropriation

In addition, the bill creates a procedure whereby executive branch state agencies may exempt an employee from the leave of absence requirement if the employee, while performing his or her duties on an annual basis, generates revenues that exceed his or her annual salary and fringe benefits costs. Using this procedure, the state agency must submit a request to the Joint Committee on Finance (JCF).

At its next regularly scheduled meeting, JCF must approve, modify, or disapprove the request. If JCF exempts a state employee from the unpaid leave of absence requirement, the appropriation that is used to pay salary and fringe benefit costs for the employee's position is supplemented to cover any additional salary and fringe benefit costs for the position resulting from the employee's not taking an unpaid leave of absence.

The bill permits a state agency to delay implementation of the mandatory and permissive exemptions from an unpaid leave of absence to July 1, 2010, by notifying the cochairpersons of JCF, in writing, before its next regularly scheduled meeting after the bill's effective date.

Finally, the bill provides that during the 2009-11 fiscal biennium a state agency may not enter into, renew, or extend any contractual services contracts with private contractors or consultants for the remainder of that fiscal biennium for the performance of services of executive branch employees who would have performed the services had they not have been required to serve an unpaid leave of absence.