With just a few days remaining in the current legislative session, there is a scramble at the Capitol to balance the 2015/16 budget shortfall and the projected 2016/17 budget shortfall. 

Updated revenue numbers fall short of expectations by roughly $40 million.  That sets the current fiscal deficit at $250 million and pushes the FY16/17 defecit to a projected $950 million.

The Democrats released a budget on 4/28 which was quickly rejected by the Governor and essentially died over the weekend.  That budget proposal was very impactful to A&R as it targeted A&R Staff Attorneys for layoffs and moved

View the results of the 2016 Elections.
Congratulations to all of the candidates for a fair and respectful election cycle.  Thank you to all of our members who participated in the process.

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-April 14, 2016
A&R has created a spot on our webpage for layoff information...it is under "Resources | Layoff Info"

At this point, A&R is only aware of 19 layoff notices:
     1 Accountant
     1 Accts Examiner
     5 ACTs - Accts Examiners
     1 Associate Accts Examiner
     1 CCT - Planning Analyst    
     2 Consumer Information Reps
     2 Lead Planning Analysts
     1 Legislative & Regulatory Analyst
     1 Librarian
     1 Research Analyst       
     1 Special Investigator
     1 Supervising Accts Examiner
     1 Tourism Program Assistant
     
Agencies are placing all "noticed" employees on Paid

-April 11, 2016
The Governor was intent on reducing the workforce through layoffs.  He offered no level of compromise or any way to avoid them; this is what he intended to do.   Layoff notices have been going out at DCF, DMHAS, and DOC and there may be more to come.

If you recieve a notice of layoff or are notified that you have been bumped/displaced please review the attached document (some of the links in the document may need to be updated)

For clarification, the bumping should work as follows when an initial notice is given:

1. Must hit least senior in your job title in your agency; no other

-April 7, 2016
In the first salvo of what is likely to be a much more extensive round of layoffs, the Department of Corrections announced that 147 employees at DOC are to be laid off.  Per Commissioner Semple: “Today, it is my duty to inform you that our agency’s savings plan has been approved. I regret to inform you that 147 Department of Correction employees are to be laid off.” 

Although layoff notices have yet to be issued, impacted DOC employees can expect to receive official notices by mid-April.

Link to Commissioners Announcement Letter

-April 7, 2016
The SEBAC unions met with OPM Secretary Ben Barnes and Undersecretary of OPM Lisa Grasso Egan late Wednesday afternoon April 6th  The meeting ran for nearly 3 hours.  The State did indicate that SEBAC concessions would be helpful for them to achieve a balanced budget in the upcoming years, however, the administration did not ask for any specific concessions nor were any concessions offered by the unions.  The State was also clear that there is no option to avoid 1,000 layoffs planned for this year.  The parties had a lengthy conversation regarding savings that can be achieved