The Washington Senate has approved a “furlough” bill that would require state agencies to cut employee costs by over $69 million through temporary layoffs and other actions over the coming months. The move would affect over 110,000 state government and higher education employees.

The Senate vote was 27 to 17, with only Democrats in favor, despite the vehement opposition of the labor unions.  House Speaker Frank Chopp spoke favorably of a furlough plan this week.

The plan that passed the Senate was quite different from the version that budget Chairwoman Margarita Prentice introduced  earlier in the week. That plan listed 16 mandatory agency closure days, with some exceptions spelled out. 

The new plan says the state budget office would allocate each agency its share of the required savings in employee compensation and allow the department to figure out how to comply. Options mentioned are mandatory or voluntary furloughs (unpaid days off), reduced work hours, use of layoffs or retirements, and so on. Agencies that don’t submit a plan would use the fallback option of closing their doors for 13 days, once a month, starting this June 14 and ending on June 10 of next year.

The Senate bill awaits action in the House.