AB 3043

Take the ‘suspense’ out of worker parity
We must work to ‘seal the deal’

AB 3043 in limbo: What can I do?
We are facing the last hurdles and we need your help! We have numerous opportunities for you to get involved in the pay parity campaign and to assist in getting our pay raise passed in the State Legislature.

1)    Lobby Visits: We are scheduling lobby visits with the Republican Appropriations Committee members.  We are educating them about our pay parity bill – AB 3043 – and why it’s important for them to vote for the bill. In April, we met with Assemblymember Bill Emmerson (R-Redlands) who did not fully understand the importance of the bill.  Because he had not read the bill, our visit proved critical.  We are scheduling lobby visits all day in Sacramento on May 20.  We invite you to join us. Check these pages for information on any other planned lobby visits.

2)    Contact your assemblymember and Appropriations Committee members: It is important for us to call our elected officials on the Appropriations Committee. We have co-workers that live in all of the assembly districts in California. If each and every one of the workers in Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Department of Developmental Services (DDS), and Department of Mental Health (DMH) call and convince an assemblymember to vote for the bill, we will get the necessary votes.  



CONTACT INFORMATION AND TALKING POINTS
APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE – Republicans targeted for calls & letters

Assemblymember Mimi Walters, Republican, District 73
24031 El Toro Rd. Suite 210
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
Phone: (949) 457-7333    Fax: (949) 457-7305
E-mail: Assemblymember.walters@assembly.ca.gov

Assemblymember Bill Emmerson, Republican, District 63
10681 Foothill Blvd., Suite 325
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
Phone: (909) 466-9096    Fax: (909) 466-9892
E-mail: Assemblymember.emmerson@assembly.ca.gov

Assemblymember Alan Nakanishi, Republican, District 10
218 W. Pine Street
Lodi, CA 95240
Phone: (209) 333-5330    Fax: (209) 333-5333
E-mail: Assemblymember.nakanishi@assembly.ca.gov

Assemblymember Sharon Runner, Republican, District 36
14343 Civic Dr., First Floor
Victorville, CA 92392
Phone: (760) 843-8045    Fax: (760) 843-8396
E-mail: Assemblymember.runner@assembly.ca.gov

Assemblymember Doug La Malfa, District 2
2865 Churn Creek Rd. Suite B
Redding, CA 96002
Phone: (530) 223-6300    Fax: (530) 223-6737
E-mail: Assemblymember.lamalfa@assembly.ca.gov



GUIDELINES/TALKING POINTS FOR CALLING YOUR LEGISLATOR:
I am calling to ask Assemblymember _____________ to support AB 3043.  My name is _____________________ and I am a constituent in your district.   I believe that the Assemblymember should vote for AB 3043 because of the following reasons:

• AB 3043 does not require any new funding. The money was set aside in last year’s budget.  The three effected departments have already agreed to absorb any additional costs.
• This increase will help departments retain and recruit an experienced workforce, addressing the severe understaffing at our facilities that threaten the quality of care.
• Vacancy rates in these departments have driven up costs due to extensive overtime usage and the necessity of using more costly registry employees.  
• According to the best available data for the most recent fiscal year short staffing is causing DDS, DVA, and DMH facilities to spend approximately $70,000 a day on overtime for employees in classifications scheduled to receive a pay raise under the parity agreement. 
• According to the best available data, DDS, DVA, and DMH are spending about $125,000 per day on private medical contractors.  That is more than $45 million each year.  (Based on daily rates for known medical registry contracts at DMH, DDS, and DVA.  Data is taken from the SCPRS database and adjusted for length of contract.)
• Based on the data above, annual costs resulting from understaffing due to non-competitive pay are about $71 million. 
• One in five – or 20 percent – of the positions that are due for a pay raise are vacant. This adds up to 671 vacancies out of 3,371 among nurses and medical support staff.
  

3)    CALL YOUR CO-WORKERS AT OTHER FACILITIES:  We have a list of your co-workers who live in the districts of Republican members of the Appropriations Committee.  If you are interested in contacting your fellow union members, please contact Alissa Ko at ako@seiu1000.org  She will be able to provide you will a list of people that you can contact.