AB 551

On June 23, 2009, Governor Doyle issued Executive Order 285, relating to

furloughing state employees in response to the emergency economic situation facing

Wisconsin. Under the order, employees of executive branch state agencies, including

the University of Wisconsin System, are required to take eight days or their hourly

equivalent (64 hours) of unpaid leave during each fiscal year of the 2009-11 fiscal

biennium. The biennial budget act,

2009 Wisconsin Act 28

, reduced state agency

appropriations accordingly to reflect compensation savings from the furloughs.

This bill exempts certain state employees from the requirement to take unpaid

leaves of absence during the 2009-11 fiscal biennium. Under the bill, with

exceptions, none of the following executive branch employees are required to serve

an unpaid leave of absence: an executive branch employee whose compensation is

paid from federal revenues or an appropriation of gifts and grants, and an executive

branch employee whose duties, while that employee is on an unpaid leave of absence,

would be performed by an employee receiving overtime pay.

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.