To our founders, you are the foundation.  To our members, you are the stability. 
To our children, you are our future

2003 State in the red:

The 2003 legislative session proved to be a little slim for organized labor. In fact, the NHPA and the Teamsters were the only Labor organization to pass a bill on behalf of state employees. SB 339 introduced on our behalf by Senator Mark Amodie now gives the Employee Management Committee full subpoena power. It also requires the employer to allow the employee two business days to obtain representation and gives full representation rights to all state employees. The problem that labor faced was money. With the state facing serious shortfalls to the tune of nearly one billion dollars, the NHPA spent most of the session protecting what was already in place and assisting other labor lobbyist and legislators to avoid cutbacks and possible statewide layoffs. The other major issue that came up was the NHP radio system and over 14 million dollars that would have to come out of the highway fund to fix the problem. To date we are still waiting for all the facts which lead to the cause of the high band failure. Fearing fines and other legal action the legislature voted to fund the new 800 system, pending further review after the 2003 session.

After the 2003 Legislature several matters had to be addressed that involved the Personnel Commission, Legislative Commission, the State Controller and the continuing battle with the PEBP Board to in act the Opt-Out provisions established under SB544.
Under the umbrella and full support of Teamsters 14, and State Personnel major changes were made and approved by the Personnel Commission regarding statewide layoffs. The issue of layoffs occurred during the 2003 legislature that seniority in layoffs were limited to geographical locations. In other words a trooper with 20 years of service Elko could be laid of in front of a trooper with 2 years of service stationed in Las Vegas with out giving the 20 year trooper the chance to relocate. The other issue that was approved and passed was once an individual signed and agreed to his performance evaluation no additional comments could be attached without the knowledge of the employee.

A major change regarding automatic payroll deductions was made through the controllers office utilizing the controllers regulatory power. The change was attempted through the 2003 legislative session. The bill passed out of the senate, however it failed to get out of the assembly. The changes that were approved by the controller satisfied the needs of the NHPA and other Teamster affiliates. [NAC 281]

Lawsuit Filed:

Due to the fact that the PEBP Board had ignored it’s responsibility to adopt regulations for groups of 300 to opt out of the state health care program as required by law, Teamsters local 14 took up the fight funding a lawsuit on behalf of several NHPA members. Due to the lawsuit PEBP agreed to come back to the table and work with the Teamsters attorneys to adopt regulations that meet the requirements of SB 544.
It should be noted that NHPA’S attorney Tarantino was also involved during the negotiation period and all meeting related to the opt out process. The PEBP staff working together with Teamster attorneys wrote and agreed to the regulations to allow NHPA members and retirees the right to opt out of the state health plan. The regulations were approved by the PEBP Board and adopted by the Legislative Commission, however the PEBP Board has now twice denied the application submitted by the Teamsters despite the fact the application met all the criteria of the law and regulations. Hopefully when this history is updated the NHPA and the Teamsters can declare a victory on this important issue.