WSLC 2011 Legislative Report

This page was last updated on

08.01.2011

The Washington State Labor Council's annual report on the legislative session

2011 Senate Voting Record
2011 House Voting Record

Download a printable version
(2MB PDF file, eight 11x17 pages)

Also see our archive of weekly 2011 WSLC Legislative Updates from the session,
plus previous years' editions of the WSLC Legislative Report and Voting Record:
2010 -- 2009 -- 2008 -- 2007 -- 2006 -- 2005 -- 2004 -- 2003 -- 2002 -- 2001 -- 2000 -- 1999

Adding insult to injury

Workers' compensation system is dismantled at behest of business

The debate over Washington’s workers’ compensation system -- and the outcome of that debate -- defined the 2011 session of the State Legislature.

A critical safety net was drastically, and needlessly, cut at the behest of powerful business interests. Gov. Chris Gregoire set the stage and the "Roadkill Caucus" of conservative corporate Democrats joined with the Republican minority to propel regressive "reforms." A core group of stalwart Democrats defended against the attack on working families’ interests, but ultimately lost the battle in the 11th hour as the governor and legislative leaders applied enormous political pressure to concede the fight.

As you will read throughout this edition of the WSLC Legislative Report & Voting Record, it was a dynamic that repeatedly played out in 2011 on major policy issues from the budget, to privatization, to collective bargaining rights.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Where have Washington's political leaders gone?
WSLC President Jeff Johnson's column

The war on workers comes to Washington
Privatization; ferry union-busting

Big tax cuts for business; temporary relief for jobless

Education needs more than words
WSLC Secretary-Treasurer Lynne Dodson's column

State's health care safety net shredded
(includes 10-14 correction)

State employees make sacrifices but still targeted

Debt concerns trump jobs

Important workplace safety legislation passes

Transit bill Eyman-ized: 'We hate to do this, but...'

Legislative efforts to target immigrants turned back

There are many more reports included in the printed version of the WSLC Legislative Report. Members of affiliated unions can request a free printed copy.

The 2011 session began with the business lobbyists bellowing for workers’ compensation reform in the wake of the dramatic failure of their ballot initiative to privatize the system. Initiative 1082 failed in every county in the state, but powerful corporate interests manufactured a crisis by claiming recession-caused rate increases were preventing businesses from hiring. Gov. Gregoire took up their cause, echoing complaints that there are too many permanently disabled workers, our system is teetering on the brink of insolvency, and the only was to fix it was to act like a private insurance company by allowing businesses to negotiate lump-sum buyouts where injured workers are paid less than what they would otherwise receive.

Although our century-old workers’ compensation system is nowhere near insolvent and voters firmly rejected the private insurance model, organized labor agreed that more could be done to reduce system costs by lowering the number of injured workers who became long-term or permanently disabled.

From the start, there were two paths to reform. The first path, supported by labor, community and human service advocates and progressive legislators, aimed to reduce disability rates and costs by preventing injuries, improving medical treatment and getting people healthy and back to work as quickly as possible. In contrast, the second path -- championed by business groups, the Roadkill Caucus, Senate Republicans and Senate Democratic leadership -- didn’t focus on improving outcomes, but on subsidizing business by slashing the safety net and buying out workers’ benefits.

The Senate, which was functionally controlled by the Roadkill Caucus, whose members made it clear they would defy their leaders and side with Republicans, chose the second path and passed SSB 5566, authorizing lump-sum buyouts for all injured workers (Senate Vote #5).

Despite repeated efforts by Republicans and a handful of Democrats to bring SSB 5566 to the House floor, Speaker Frank Chopp and the majority of the House Democratic caucus held strong against buyouts throughout the regular session.

By the end of regular session, several responsible reform policies had passed:

SB 5801 (Senate Vote #3 and House Vote #5) -- Creating a statewide provider network and improving medical care for injured workers by expanding access to the Centers for Occupational Health Education. This bill is expected to save the system $218 million over the next four years.
SB 5068 -- Preventing injuries by requiring employers to remedy serious hazards (Senate Vote #6 and House Vote #9, see separate story).
SB 5594 -- Reducing injury and illness by regulating the handling of hazardous drugs (see story).
HB 2002 -- Helping workers return to work by subsidizing wages and other needs (House Vote #7).
HB 2026 -- Smoothing rate volatility created by massive refunds to employers -- like the ill-timed $315 million pre-recession rebate in 2007 -- by creating a workers’ comp rainy day fund.

(The latter two passed the House only, but were eventually integrated into the final workers’ compensation legislation.)

Meanwhile, the WSLC opposed HB 1487 to expand the authority of Retrospective Rating employers to increase their refunds by closing injured workers’ claims. It passed the House (see Vote #6) but died without a vote in the Senate.

Entering the special overtime session, working family advocates asked the Governor and Senate to embrace the responsible House-promoted package addressing long-term disability and generating significant savings. But Boeing, the business lobby, and conservative Senate members insisted on buyouts -- and they were willing to hold everything else, including the operating budget and other unrelated legislation, hostage until they got it.

It worked. With the help of Gov. Gregoire, Senate Democratic leadership, and ultimately, House Democratic leadership, the end result was HB 2123, sponsored by Rep. Tami Green (D-Lakewood). Like the 2003 Unemployment Insurance benefit cuts -- also done at Boeing’s behest -- the final package was rammed through in the waning hours of the special session with no public hearing (Senate and House Vote #1). The bill incorporates some elements of the responsible path (return-to-work, rainy day fund, claims management improvement), but fundamentally changes our system by allowing buyouts.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2012, businesses will negotiate with injured workers over age 55 (50 in 2016) to settle for less. Some argue HB 2123 is less predatory than lump-sum buyouts because the settlements will be paid out over time, but any savings is predicated on workers getting less than their guaranteed benefit. Settlements of any kind fundamentally change this safety net into a gamble as families bet on what will be enough for them to survive in the long term. It opens the door to private claims-adjusting insurers looking to profit through buyouts.

The debate and outcome was disappointing but illuminating. It revealed true champions of working families who stood up and fought. And it exposed those willing to fabricate a crisis to put corporate interests ahead of the injured workers’ interests.

There are many, many more stories included in the print version of the WSLC's 2011 Legislative Report. See the Table of Contents at the top of this page. Also, members of WSLC-affiliated unions can request a free copy of the printed version of the report.

2011 Senate Voting Record -- 2011 House Voting Record

Archive of weekly WSLC Legislative Updates from the 2011 session

Apr. 14 -- The people are watching -- Last Friday, depending on whose estimates you believe, 7,500 to 10,000-plus people came to Olympia to urge legislators to stop the attacks on working people and their unions, to focus on creating good jobs, and to "Put People First" as they deal with the $5 billion revenue shortfall. What did the rally accomplish? It reminded legislators that the people are watching. And it reminded all of us the lesson of Plato, Sir Thomas More, and Martin Luther King, Jr.: silence equals consent. It also reminded Washington's labor movement that there is true power in our solidarity. We have more power than we know. And it will be organized labor's mission to harness that power between now and the next opportunity we have to decide who gets the keys to this state government. We will be identifying which legislators are voting to "Put People First" and which are putting powerful corporate interests ahead of effective government.

Apr. 7 -- Enough is enough! -- Business interests have already succeeded in cutting their Unemployment Insurance taxes $300 million, cutting workers' compensation costs by hundreds of millions of dollars (with hundreds of millions more to be saved in pending legislation), and the House budget proposals leaves their billions of dollars in tax preferences untouched. But there is still blood in the water in Olympia and business lobbyists are scrambling to extract one more billion-dollar pound of flesh from injured workers. Their sights are set on a brand-new last-minute piece of legislation that includes compromise-and-release lump-sum buyouts and targets benefits cuts toward seniors with permanent disabilities.

Mar. 22 -- New middle ground on workers' comp? -- The House Labor and Workforce Development Committee will hear three brand new bills that may represent the middle ground between where business and labor stand on this contentious issue. These new bills -- combined with SB 5801 already signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire and the House-approved HB 2002 -- represent a total of more than $520 million in cost savings to the workers' compensation system over the next four years.

Mar. 11 -- The TRUTH About Compromise-and-Release --- State Senate has passed SB 5566, which would allow employers to settle workers' compensation claims with "compromise-and-release" lump-sum buyouts of injured workers. This would be a radical change for Washington’s workers’ compensation system, which is a national model for its low costs and high benefits -- a system that got a resounding vote of confidence from voters last fall. Now, the corporate groups that unsuccessfully sought to privatize it, are playing down the dramatic effect SB 5566 would have and making misleading or false claims about the system. This special report debunks these claims and making the case for workers' compensation changes that don't put injured workers and their families at risk.

Mar. 8 -- Senate compromises injured workers -- By a 34-15 vote on March 5, the Democratic-controlled Senate approved a revised SB 5566 that converts our state's workers' compensation system from one that provides "sure and certain relief" to injured workers into an adversarial process that allows employers to lawyer-up versus injured workers and negotiate lump-sum "compromise and release" buyouts. Twelve Democrats sided with all Republicans in voting for SB 5566.

Feb. 28 -- Better care, injury prevention cut workers' comp costs -- Organized labor supports efforts to cut Washington's workers' compensation costs associated with long-term disability pensions. But the best way to do that is by utilizing best practices that have demonstrated success in achieving that outcome, NOT by simply cutting off benefits when injured workers reach a certain age or allowing "starve-and-settle" agreements. This week's Legislative Update newsletter includes an explanation of which workers' compensation bills labor supports and opposes, plus post-cutoff status reports on previously reported legislation.

Feb. 18 -- Creating jobs, fixing workers' comp & more -- The deadline for policy bills to pass committee in their house of origin is Monday (Presidents' Day), for fiscal bills to pass committee in their house of origin is Friday, Feb. 25, and for all bills to pass their house of origin is Monday, March 7. See some summaries of important legislation the Washington State Labor Council is following, including providing public-works bid preferences for in-state contractors, creating aerospace apprenticeship opportunities, preventing work injuries and implementing best practices to address the issue of rising long-term disability claims, and more.

Feb. 14 -- A measure of temporary relief for the unemployed -- After weeks of negotiation, the Legislature approved legislation last week addressing both taxes and benefits in our Unemployment Insurance system. In addition to granting businesses permanently lower U.I. tax rates, it provides federal extended benefits, plus enhancements to the existing training benefit program and a temporary $25 boost in weekly benefits for all new claimants. Plus, news regarding liquor privatization, workers' compensation changes, Washington Film Works, and an opportunity to support state employees on Presidents Day, Feb. 21.

Feb. 8 -- What will we do to help struggling families? -- Having already decided how to help struggling businesses to avoid a Unemployment Insurance tax increase, the question is: what will we do to help families struggling with unemployment? The House is considering amending the Senate-approved U.I. legislation to make its temporary business tax cuts permanent and to provide additional temporary U.I. benefits for struggling families. While it's not the permanent children's benefit increase supported by the United for Washington Families coalition, getting an additional $20-$25 on the kitchen tables of Washington's unemployed families will provide some measure of relief, and create nearly $200 million of purchasing power in local economies. Plus, the WSLC urges legislators not to risk precious jobs in Centralia by imposing an aggressive new timeline for the TransAlta power plant to meet new greenhouse gas emission standards, and some Republicans want to impose the "McKenna Minimum Wage," a creative interpretation of 1998's popular minimum wage initiative that would block its annual increases in certain years. Bad idea.

Jan. 31 -- Don't take it out on ferry workers! -- There's no question about it, the Washington State Ferries system is struggling. But it's not because of its dedicated hard-working employees made it that way. Yet legislation is being proposed to fix the WSF essentially by taking away ferry workers' bargaining rights, unilaterally cutting their wages and benefits, and privatizing parts of the system. These bills are blunt instruments that take out a decade of frustration on the wrong people, trample on fundamental workplace rights, and circumvent the collective bargaining process. Plus, news on legislation to "build a better speed bump" on home foreclosures, putting state money to work creating jobs with a State Investment Trust, and updates on unemployment insurance and workers' compensation

Jan. 25 -- House panel passes balanced U.I. bill -- The House Labor and Workforce Development Committee chaired by Rep. Mike Sells (D-Everett) has amended HB 1091, the governor's initial proposal for changes to the state Unemployment Insurance system, to balance proposed business tax cuts with a children's benefit to help families struggling with unemployment. This change, supported by the growing United for Washington Families coalition of community and labor groups, is a win-win-win to help families, businesses and the economy, which are all suffering right now. Plus, news of a so-called "right-to-work" bill filed by Republicans, Gov. Gregoire's proposal on workers' compensation, and misguided efforts to deal with the immigration issue at the state level.

Jan. 18 -- Businesses AND families are suffering -- Advocates for Washington families support balancing Unemployment Insurance tax cuts (price tag: $478 million) with a $15 children's benefit (price: $202 million) to help 170,000 struggling families, instead of enacting a proposed training benefit that might impact 1,900 people. While many in business lobbying groups remain dedicated to tax cuts without relief for our families, friends and neighbors, this may be one of the only opportunities our state legislators have to make positive change in 2011. That's why we remain hopeful that legislators on both sides of the aisle will set aside historic differences and embrace this win-win-win proposal that helps business, families and our economy. Plus, updates on paid family leave insurance and a referendum to temporarily suspend tax breaks we can no longer afford.

Jan. 13 -- Balance U.I. tax cut with aid for children -- A coalition of unions and other organizations is proposing an alternative more balanced approach to Unemployment Insurance changes that recognizes the shared struggles of businesses, families and communities. While we believe that Gov. Gregoire's initial proposal is a good start to this discussion, it is not the best path to economic recovery. Its modest improvements to training benefits fall short of what is needed to address the immediate needs of families in crisis and our state economy. We strongly believe MORE must be done for families struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Thanks to the relative health of the U.I. Trust Fund, this may be the only opportunity this year to do something positive for struggling families, while also avoiding a U.I. rate increase for employers.