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The Washington State Labor Council's
 pretty-much-weekly report on the 2009 session

(See previous editions.)

FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2009   (PDF version)

Ask not for whom
the budget bell tolls

It tolls for state employees, their families,
their clients, students and communities

At the Washington State Labor Council's Legislative Conference in February, House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-Seattle) said that the state budget is not just a financial document, but also a "moral document of our values."

This year, those moral values may include laying off 8,000 to 12,000 state employees and freezing the wages of the rest, boosting their out-of-pocket health insurance costs from 12% to as much as 18% of the premiums, and "postponing" about half a billion dollars in their pension fund payments.  We say "may" because the House and Senate budget proposals expected to be released this week were delayed until next week.  (The Senate's set for Monday and House on Tuesday.)

Those budget proposals will reportedly include cutting $500 million from the higher education system and more than $250 million from the Basic Health Plan, which would mean an estimated 42,000 people in low-income families would lose their subsidized coverage. That's on top of the 7,700 enrollment slots being eliminated by the end of April.

Democratic legislative leaders have apparently decided to abide by Gov. Chris Gregoire's campaign pledge -- made long before the extent of the $9 billion revenue shortfall was known -- to avoid any tax increases and approve an all-cuts budget.  In fact, that pledge has expanded to include avoiding any evaluation (much less repeal) of the billions of dollars in business tax breaks granted every year.

The idea is that after lawmakers approve a devastating all-cuts budget that everyone hates, they would then develop a ballot measure that lets voters decide whether to increase their taxes to "buy back" some of the cut programs.

Earlier this month, hundreds of members of the Washington Federation of State Employees, AFSCME Council 28 held "Cuts Hurt Washington" actions across the state to put faces to the numbers -- the faces of our most vulnerable citizens who need state services to survive and the faces of the dedicated employees providing those services who now face layoff.

Organized labor is aware of the horrible choices presented by the revenue shortfall. We know that most legislators understand the harm their budget will cause families in this state.  But we also know there are legislators out there -- those who still insist that government should be run like a business -- for whom it may be helpful to consider the negative economic impact of the proposed cuts on private employment.

When the combed-over tassel-toed corporate lobbyists in Olympia tout the gift of employment they bestow upon Washington -- for now... and don't you forget it -- they extrapolate to include the "indirect or induced" jobs they create.  The same is true for the state's largest employer, the State of Washington.  Thousands of private businesses are patronized by state agencies and their employees.  Those agencies are about to lose a big chunk of their income, as are many of their employees.  For example, the proposed closure of the Naselle Youth Camp devastates not only the young people and employees there, but the whole community's economy.  The detention facility is the area's largest employer.

In other words, budget cuts have human and moral costs, but they also have a negative multiplier effect on the entire economy and absolutely will prolong the recession.

Public safety is on the cutting block, too

Two bills prime-sponsored by Sen. Jim Hargrove (D-Hoquiam) seem intent on adding danger to insult and injury.

SB 5288, which passed the Senate 38-8 and is now before the House, would end community supervision for thousands of criminal offenders around the state.  It is intended to save money, but it could cost us a lot more in the long run.

On Feb. 21, a 13-year-old Vancouver-area seventh-grader was murdered and a homeless sex offender has been charged with her death. The girl's mother, Maranda Hannah, hadn't planned to go public until after the man's trial, but SB 5288 changed all that.

"Releasing 12,000 dangerous offenders with no supervision by our state Community Corrections officers is not the way to balance the budget," Hannah said this week in Olympia. (See TV news coverage of Hannah's remarks on SB 5288.) 

A separate proposal by Sen. Hargrove would lead to the closure of McNeil Island Corrections Center and early release of about 1,700 inmates. And Teamsters Local 117 reports that the House Ways and Means Committee is considering a "temporary" closure of the main institution at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla and the early release of 1,400 to 1,900 inmates statewide. ¡Ay, caramba!

Meanwhile, Hargrove's SB 5943 takes the troubled DSHS Child Welfare Services agency and... privatizes it.  The problems with this approach are many: lack of performance standards for contractors, new costs for supervising the contracts, and the likelihood that the people doing this important work will be paid far less than state employees -- if they get paid at all.

In the case of Shayne Abegg, a boy who was hospitalized in 2007 after being purposely starved, private contractors were at fault. According to The Seattle Times, the contractor had been assigned to work with the Everett family on "food issues," after reports of abuse or neglect. After several months, the contractor told the state that the family was doing well and the case should be closed. A week after the contractor's last visit, 4-year-old Shayne was hospitalized weighing less than 25 pounds, severely malnourished. Not long after that, the contracted agency was sued by former employees who said they weren't being paid for their work. This week, a lawsuit over the boy's near-fatal starving was settled by DSHS for $6 million, the largest settlement ever for a single child victim.

SB 5943 passed the Senate 33-15 and is before the House. Rep. Ruth Kagi (D-Lake Forest Park), who chairs the House Children and Family Services Committee, planned this afternoon to introduce a good striking amendment to make the bill a pilot project at two sites, with privatization but also with the ability of state employees to exercise their contractual rights to compete to provide those services. Stay tuned.

And now, some good news on U.I., other issues

SB 5963, which grants hundreds of millions of dollars in Unemployment Insurance tax cuts for employers, was amended in the House Commerce and Labor Committee to create some balance by increasing the benefit multiplier to 4.0 and restoring court-approved agency discretion in determining eligibility for unique good-cause quits. (See our earlier report for details.) These are very positive changes and the WSLC urges that the amended bill be approved by the House and Senate.

Here are a few other labor-supported bills that remain alive:

• SB 5492 would give arbitration rights to the workers at Energy Northwest if they can't conclude a collective bargaining agreement with their employer. It passed the Senate 33-15 and is in House Rules. The House version, HB 1389, already passed 67-29, so prospects for passage are good.
  

• SB 5873 applies apprenticeship utilization standards to higher education construction projects, expanding training opportunities for young people to "earn while they learn." It passed the Senate 28-18 and is advanced out of House Commerce and Labor this morning.
  

• HB 1329 grants collective bargaining rights to child care center workers. It passed the House 65-31 and is scheduled for action in Senate Commerce and Labor this weekend.
  

• HB 1402, known as the ex parte communication bill, restricts the ability of employers appealing workers' compensation claims from contacting and pressuring the medical providers of the injured workers. It passed the House 55-42 and is set for Senate Commerce and Labor action this weekend.

WSLC Labor Candidate School will be June I-4

It's never been more apparent than it is today that if union members want to take our government back from the corporate interests that control it, they will have to do it themselves by stepping up and running for elected office. To that end, the WSLC's 8th bi-annual Labor Candidate School, will be held June 1-4 at the Laborers’ Training Facility in Kingston. Click here for more details.

Next Legislative Update: Monday, April 6

Friday, April 17 at 5 p.m. is the deadline for bills not related to the budget to pass the opposite house. Sunday (Bloody Sunday), April 26 is the last day for the regular session.

PREVIOUS EDITIONS of the 2009 WSLC Legislative Update

Mar. 20 -- "An affront to Democrats, democracy" -- Killing the Worker Privacy Act with no vote or no explanation would taint the State Legislature.

Mar. 18 -- "We ask for a moment of truth" -- What really happened with the WSLC email cited by Democratic leadership as they suspended action on Worker Privacy.

Mar. 13 -- "Post-cutoff status report" -- A list of labor-supported bills that were not voted upon by Thursday's cutoff; and labor-opposed bills that remain alive.

Mar. 6 -- "Threaten to leave. (Repeat, as necessary.)" -- Boeing's threats make some legislators jittery; Senate's U.I. reform; Energy NW workers' arbitration; and more

Feb. 27 -- "Worker Privacy ready for floor votes" -- Senate's one-sided U.I. reform; major step forward on health care; Evergreen's labor college; and more

Feb. 20 -- "Collective bargaining at stake" -- Why some state employee unions have sued the governor; plus Worker Privacy Act, UI reform, and more

Feb. 13 -- "The difference between right and wrong" -- Worker Privacy Act, health care, unemployment benefits, workers' compensation, and more 

Feb. 6 -- "Strong Start for Worker Privacy Act" -- Plus, the "Essential Worker Program" (HB 1896); preserve our health care safety net; and unemployment benefits  

Jan. 30 -- "Reminder: We Won, They Lost" -- Now is a time for progressive action

Jan. 23 -- "Sometimes, it's non of the boss's business" -- Worker Privacy Act

Jan. 16 -- "Stimulate spending, not bottom lines" -- Raising unemployment benefits

Jan. 9 -- "It's Not ALL About the Benjamins" -- WSLC's 2009 legislative agenda

Copyright © 2009 -- Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO