Senate Bill 2680, which seeks to allow state agencies/departments/newly elected statewide officials to hire and fire at will for a year without the oversight of the state personal board.
The Republicans, including Haley Barbour, are touting that the state government should run like a business, and therefore, these measures are necessary in a tight budget year.
However, Democrats are arguing that this will open the state up to more litigation, and also promotes cronyism in state government.
What do you all think? (If there are any state employees who blog on here, please give us your thoughts as this may affect you.)
Why is it just for a year? Do you know?
ReplyDeleteI’m a state employee and think it’s a great idea. All it’s doing is asking for the freedom that bosses in every other industry have.
ReplyDeleteHas anybody read the Business Pages in the newspaper lately? Who in God's name would want our state to be run like that?
ReplyDeleteUm, Butch? I never heard the "State of Mississippi" referred to as an "industry" before. Does that means all its citizens are in a union?
I'm goin' on break. Union rules.
It was mentioned in a CL article about how they have given other state agencies this ability in the past, but it's never been widespread. For instance, they gave Lester Spell this opportunity, and I think it mentioned he fired 1/3 of the staff.
ReplyDeleteI guess in theory, it should only take a year to straighten things out- or fill up slots with your friends.
The way that Haley's friends are doing business, we may export all our state jobs outside the country.
Correct me on this, but I thought state employees could still be fired for a number of reasons, but there are protections for abuse of such power.