Furloughs

The current economic crisis has led the governor and the general assembly to consider ways to cut spending to accomodate the budget shortfall. One suggested option is mandatory furloughs for state employees. The governor’s budget recommendations include five furlough days for the 2009-10 fiscal year.

The joint budget committee recommended against using furloughs, concluding that the benefits of furloughs for the state budget were offset by concerns over how state services would be affected.

However, mandatory furloughs for state employees are not yet off the table. Representative King has introduced HB 1221 requiring 1-2 furlough days a month for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 fiscal years.The bill will come before the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee for discussion tomorrow (February 19).

You can listen to audio broadcasts of the committee proceedings from the General Assembly website. The State Veterans and Military Affairs committee is scheduled to meet in House Committee Room 112 at 8:00am.

Samantha Hager
Latest posts by Samantha Hager (see all)