Your Union’s effort to prevent the disclosure of public employee birthdates and personal photos continues to advance through the Legislative process. In fact, it’s gaining strength. The bill was voted out of the Senate State Government Committee with a unanimous bipartisan vote. It is now before the Senate Ways and Means Committee and was heard on Friday evening, February 28.

There were some complications in various language interpretations that led to a 282-page fiscal note that would have cost the State Department of Retirement Systems millions. Senator Sam Hunt (D) Olympia, Chairman of the Committee, worked with all parties to amend the bill to simplify the issues and brought the cost to near 0.

The bill needs to be voted out of the Senate by Friday, March 6.

Again, all members are encouraged to contact their Senators and ask them to support the bill. Given some of the questions from the most recent hearing the message should be: 

“Please support HB 1888. As a Public Employee, information such as my birthdate date and personal photos should not be made public, especially by my employer. It puts my personal safety, both physical and financial, at risk”.

Feel free to tell any personal stories about how your job has put you in harms way from people who threatened you and why they shouldn’t have access to your personal information.

You can call and leave a message for your Senator at 1-800-562-6000 or click here HB 1888 and Comment on this bill.