PRINTER'S NO. 2102
No. 1716 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY BROWNE, ARGALL, ARMSTRONG, BARD, BELARDI,
BENNINGHOFF, CLARK, DALLY, FAIRCHILD, FARGO, GANNON, GEIST,
GORDNER, HENNESSEY, HUTCHINSON, MASLAND, S. MILLER, MYERS,
ORIE, RAMOS, ROSS, SAINATO, SAYLOR, SEMMEL, SEYFERT,
STEELMAN, STETLER, E. Z. TAYLOR, TIGUE, WILLIAMS, WILT,
YOUNGBLOOD AND ZUG, JUNE 16, 1999
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, JUNE 16, 1999
AN ACT
1 Providing for State employee incentives, awards, bonuses and
2 funding.
3 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
4 hereby enacts as follows:
5 Section 1. Short title.
6 This act shall be known and may be cited as the State
7 Employee Teamwork Incentive Program Act.
8 Section 2. Declaration of policy.
9 The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
10 (1) The private sector and many other states have
11 initiated employee reward programs in an attempt to generate
12 money-saving ideas. One type of employee reward program,
13 known as gainsharing or team-based pay, recognizes employee
14 efficiency and teamwork by evenly distributing a small
15 percentage of budget savings, in the form of bonuses, to
16 those employees responsible for the savings.
1 (2) Pennsylvania's State employees possess first-hand
2 knowledge of the day-to-day operation of Commonwealth
3 government. Many of these employees who have ideas for
4 improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the programs
5 they administer remain a valuable, yet untapped, resource.
6 (3) The work of the IMPACCT Commission, which was
7 established pursuant to House Resolution 5 of 1995, and the
8 agencies administering the commission's recommendations have
9 proven that government can be restructured and refocused
10 without jeopardizing the effectiveness of government programs
11 or lowering the quality of government services.
12 Section 3. Definitions.
13 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
14 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
15 context clearly indicates otherwise:
16 "Award." The State Employee Teamwork Incentive Award
17 established under this act.
18 "Bonus." The prorated portion of an award which is paid to
19 an individual State employee.
20 "Committee." The Legislative Budget and Finance Committee.
21 "Commonwealth agency." Any executive agency, independent
22 agency, the General Assembly and its officers and agencies or
23 any court or other officer or agency of the unified judicial
24 system.
25 "Eligible employee unit." Any part of a Commonwealth agency,
26 including, but not limited to, a bureau, division, office or
27 section.
28 "Eligible State employee." A State employee who works in an
29 eligible employee unit, except for an elected Commonwealth
30 official or an employee of the Legislative Budget and Finance
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1 Committee.
2 "Program." The State Employee Teamwork Incentive Program
3 established under this act.
4 Section 4. State Employee Teamwork Incentive Program
5 established.
6 There is hereby established the State Employee Teamwork
7 Incentive Program, which provides financial incentives to groups
8 of State employees who suggest ideas for improving the
9 efficiency and economy of their workplace, the implementation of
10 which results in a budgetary savings for the Commonwealth. The
11 program shall be administered in accordance with this act.
12 Section 5. Award.
13 (a) Establishment of State Employee Teamwork Incentive
14 Award.--There is hereby established the State Employee Teamwork
15 Incentive Award, which shall be granted to eligible employee
16 units in accordance with this act.
17 (b) Application.--Any eligible employee unit may apply for
18 an award by submitting an award application to the head of the
19 Commonwealth agency within which the unit is located no later
20 than September 1 of the year immediately following the fiscal
21 year for which the unit claims it has generated a budgetary
22 savings. Applications shall be in the form specified by the
23 committee and shall include information necessary to demonstrate
24 that a unit-initiated suggestion resulted in budgetary savings,
25 including, but not limited to:
26 (1) a description of the unit-initiated suggestion which
27 was implemented and which resulted in budgetary savings;
28 (2) the applicable appropriation or appropriations from
29 the fiscal year for which the unit claims it has generated a
30 budgetary savings, the expenditures therefrom, encumbrances
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1 thereon and the amount unencumbered and unexpended;
2 (3) the program activities and accomplishments for the
3 fiscal year for which the unit claims it has generated a
4 budgetary savings; and
5 (4) the revenues, expenditures, program activities and
6 accomplishments for the fiscal year immediately preceding and
7 the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year for
8 which the unit claims it has generated a budgetary savings.
9 (c) Commonwealth agency review.--Upon verification of the
10 accuracy of the information included in an application, the head
11 of the agency in which the unit is located shall forward the
12 application to the committee no later than September 30 of the
13 fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year for which the
14 unit claims it has generated a budgetary savings. In the event
15 the head of an agency finds that information included in an
16 application is inaccurate or does not demonstrate that an
17 eligible employee unit-initiated suggestion has resulted in a
18 budgetary savings, he or she shall not forward the application
19 to the committee, and the application shall be considered
20 rejected.
21 (d) Committee review.--The committee shall review each
22 application submitted by an agency and shall determine the
23 actual budgetary savings and award amount, if any. The committee
24 shall inform the Commonwealth agency of the actual budgetary
25 savings and award amount, not later than November 30. In
26 determining the actual savings, the committee shall satisfy
27 itself that the budgetary savings claimed by the eligible
28 employee unit is real and not merely apparent and that it is
29 not, in whole or in part, the result of:
30 (1) chance;
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1 (2) a lowering of the quality of the service rendered;
2 (3) nonrecurrence of expenditures which were single
3 outlay or one-time expenditures in the immediately preceding
4 fiscal year;
5 (4) stockpiling inventories in the immediately preceding
6 fiscal year so as to reduce requirements in the fiscal year
7 for which savings is claimed;
8 (5) substitution of Federal or other funds for programs
9 currently receiving State appropriations;
10 (6) unreasonable postponement of payments of accounts
11 payable until the fiscal year immediately following the
12 fiscal year for which savings is claimed;
13 (7) shifting of expenses to another unit of government;
14 and
15 (8) any other practice, event or device which the
16 committee decides has caused a distortion which makes it
17 falsely appear that a savings or an increase in revenue gains
18 or an increase in level of services has occurred.
19 (e) Amount.--The amount of an award shall be equal to 5% of
20 the actual savings, as determined by the committee. No award
21 shall be greater than $1,000,000.
22 (f) Limitations.--No eligible employee unit shall receive
23 any more than one bonus for each unit-initiated suggestion.
24 Section 6. Bonus.
25 (a) Amount.--The amount of each bonus resulting from an
26 award shall be equal to the award amount divided by the number
27 of employees in the eligible employee unit receiving the award.
28 (b) Limitation.--No bonus shall be greater than $10,000.
29 (c) Payment.--The agency shall determine the amount of any
30 bonus resulting from an award and pay each bonus no later than
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1 December 31 of the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal
2 year in which the budgetary savings were realized and for which
3 the eligible employee unit has received an award.
4 Section 7. Funding.
5 Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, bonus
6 payments shall be charged to the appropriation from which the
7 budgetary savings was realized.
8 Section 8. Effective date.
9 This act shall take effect July 1, 1999.
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