WSLC Legislative Update -- February 11, 2005

On issues ranging from tax incentives to state contract offshoring to tax-subsidized employer health care, some lobbyists advocate the three-monkey approach: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. They oppose allowing studies of whether their talking points are true.

UPCOMING EVENTS

THURSDAY, FEB. 17 -- Olympia Lobby Day for the Washington Fair Share Coalition, a group of community, senior, business, health care provider, women's, religious and labor organizations that support the Health Care Responsibility Act. (See our Feb. 4 edition for details.) Participants will attend an 8 a.m. House Health Care Committee hearing on the HCRA, then a quick lobbying training session on where to find their local legislators and how to urge their support of the HCRA. There will be a rally at noon and then the Senate Health Care Committee will hear the bill at 3:30 p.m.

THURSDAY, FEB. 24 -- The Washington State Labor Council's Legislative Conference starting at 8:30 a.m. at the Red Lion Olympia Hotel. All union members are invited to attend and get updates on the status of legislation affecting working families from Olympia leaders, including Gov. Christine Gregoire, and labor lobbyists. The registration fee is $30 and includes materials, lunch and admission to the legislative reception Wednesday night. Download a registration form or call (206) 281-8901 for details.

Are tax incentives really creating or maintaining jobs? Are good jobs really being lost in Washington because the government is sending state service contracts offshore? Do large wealthy corporations really have a substantial number of employees on taxpayer-subsidized health care?

These are all questions for which taxpayers deserve answers, and there are bills before the 2005 State Legislature that would provide them:

HB 1069, sponsored by Rep. Jim McIntire (D-Seattle), would create a citizens’ commission to study, review and make critical recommendations on our state’s 535 tax preferences. It passed the House 63-32 on Monday.

HB 1724, sponsored by Rep. Steve Conway (D-Tacoma) and heard in the House Commerce and Labor on Wednesday, would require businesses that receive state contracts to disclose whether they are offshoring the work. Also heard were HCR 4405, sponsored by Rep. Zack Hudgins (D-Tukwila), to set up a task force to take a comprehensive look at offshore outsourcing, and Rep. Conway's HB 1725 to prohibit offshoring of certain state contracts.

HB 1486, sponsored by Rep. Conway, would require applicants for state-funded health care or uncompensated hospital care to identify their employers. The Health Care Committee will hear it Tuesday, Feb. 15 at 1:30 p.m.

Business lobbyists representing special interest after special interest are arguing that seeking such information is bad for Washington. Reciting the same tired dogmatic hooey about our awful business climate, these lobbyists say that merely asking businesses how they spend taxpayers' money sends the wrong signal.

What are they so afraid of? Their opposition seems rooted in a lack of faith in their own talking points. Who says the audits, studies and task forces will be negative?

For example, if an audit concludes a particular tax incentive does create good jobs, just like the lobbyists promised it would, won't there be pressure to increase that tax incentive?

Wal-Mart recently spent millions on a public relations campaign about what fantastic health benefits they provide. Great! Then why can't we ask people enrolled in the state Basic Health Plan, or people without insurance who can't pay their emergency-room bills, where they work? Clearly, none of them will answer Wal-Mart, the nation's biggest and bestest employer, home of terrific affordable health benefits. Unless maybe (gasp) — they weren't telling the truth!

No. We at the Washington State Labor Council refuse to assume the worst, like so many business lobbyists. In the spirit of sending the right business-climate signals, we will not assume that Wal-Mart is lying, that tax breaks are a waste of money and that offshore outsourcing of state services is costing us good jobs. That's why we strongly support all of the above-mentioned bills -- to find out the truth.

The real question for taxpayers will be which of their elected representatives and senators, all of whom tend to campaign on holding government accountable to taxpayers, will side with the business lobbyists, close their eyes, cover their ears, and say "nay, nay, nay."

Every year since 1998, when voters approved automatic cost-of-living increases in our state minimum wage, the Washington Restaurant Association has fought to get their member restaurants off the hook. This year is no exception.

SB 5774 and HB 1795 are the 2005 editions of tip credit legislation. Here's the legislative digest explanation: "Requires employers to determine the average tipped wage rate for each tipped employee for the previous calendar month. If the average tipped wage rate does not equal or exceed the adjusted minimum wage rate under RCW 49.46.020(4)(b) for any tipped employee, the employer shall pay the tipped employee an amount equal to the number of hours worked for the previous calendar month multiplied by the adjusted minimum wage rate less the average tipped wage rate for the tipped employee for the previous calendar month. Employers shall pay the tipped employee this amount at any time during the month subsequent to the month used for the calculation under this provision." (That's just the first half.)

The House bills sponsors are Reps. Brian Sullivan (D-Mukilteo), Cary Condotta (R-Wenatchee), Gigi Talcott (R-Tacoma), Jan Shabro (R-Bonney Lake), Larry Haler (R-Richland), Jim Dunn (R-Vancouver), Toby Nixon (R-Kirkland), Janea Holmquist (R-Moses Lake), Maureen Walsh (R-Moses Lake), Barbara Bailey (R-Oak Harbor), Dan Kristiansen (R-Snohomish), Joel Kretz (R-Wauconda), and Kelli Linville (D-Bellingham).

The Senate bill's sponsors are Sen. Erik Poulsen (D-Seattle) and Linda Evans Parlette (R-Wenatchee).

Speaking of anti-worker legislation, a relic of the failed "Paycheck Protection" campaigns of the 1990s has been dusted off and dropped -- with a thud -- in 2005. SB 5571 would require prior written authorization from each union member to spend any portion of dues on politics, and it would require public employee unions to jump through even more hoops to have a political voice. Obviously, the goal is to defund unions and silence the voice of working families.

This type of legislation has been rejected by voters and state legislatures across the country, and by courts that have declared it an unconstitutional infringement of free speech.

Union members get to vote on how, and whether, to spend money on politics. Under current federal law, if a union member so chooses, he or she can withdraw and avoid funding politics. But corporate shareholders -- and employers participating in the retro program! -- have no such mechanisms to control how their money is spent on politics or to opt out of corporate political programs all together.

The sponsors of SB 5571 are Sen. Mike Hewitt (R-Walla Walla), Jim Honeyford (R-Sunnyside), Bob McCaslin (R-Spokane Valley), Jerome Delvin (R-Richland), Joyce Mulliken (R-Moses Lake).

MONDAY, Feb. 14 -- At 10 a.m., Senate Labor and Commerce hears SB 5614 requiring audits of the workers' compensation system. At 1:30 p.m., House Commerce and Labor hears HB 1856, the House version of the workers' comp audit bill; HB 1917 which aims to stabilize workers' comp rates; and HB 1853 changing the index for increasing workers' comp benefits from the Consumer Price Index to the Implicit Price Deflator. Bring coffee.

TUESDAY -- At 1:30 p.m., House Commerce and Labor hears HB 1910, a proposal by the Insurance Commissioner to stabilize health care costs through a reinsurance plan; and HB 1486 which requires applicants for state-funded health plans to disclose their employers (see lead story). At 6 p.m., House Commerce and Labor will hear HB 1875 which reforms the retro program by requiring incentive payments to be used only to promote work safety and not for politics or other purposes; and some other workers' compensation bills.

WEDNESDAY -- At 8 a.m., Senate Health Care hears SB 5861, the Insurance Commissioner's reinsurance proposal.

THURSDAY -- At 8 a.m., House Health Care hears HB 1702, the Health Care Responsibility Act (see our Feb. 4 edition for more information). Also at 8 a.m., Senate Labor and Commerce hears SB 5724 requiring the state to bargain over hours of work for home-care workers; and SB 5720 eliminating employee non-compete agreements in the broadcasting industry. Also at 8 a.m., House Higher Education hears HB 1733 providing pay equity for part-time community and technical college faculty. At 10 a.m., Senate International Trade hears bills related to offshoring. At 3:30 p.m., Senate Health Care hears SB 5637, the Health Care Responsibility Act.