WSLC Legislative Update -- March 18, 2005

Wednesday was the deadline for bills that aren't budget-related to pass their houses of origin, and most of the pro-working family bills being followed by the Washington State Labor Council remain in play. However, the day didn't pass without disappointment. The Health Care Responsibility Act is now officially dead for the 2005 session.

WSLC Legislative Tracker™

The award-winning website of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO includes the WSLC Legislative Tracker™. Check it out at www.wslc.org/legis/tracker.htm to follow the progress of some of the key working families bills before the 2005 legislature.

Every week it seems, another state announces Wal-Mart has been officially designated the company with the most employees and their dependents on state health care programs. This week it was Wal-Mart's home state of Arkansas that announced the world's richest corporation is its #1 recipient of taxpayer-subsidized health care.

Also every week, responsible employers that provide affordable health care benefits are laying off workers or going out of business because they can't compete with the employers who don't. This week Brown & Cole, which operates unionized grocery stores Thrifty Foods and Food Pavilion, notified 64 workers in Pasco that they will lose their jobs. Last week they issued layoff notices to 132 workers in Arlington and Yakima.

Brown & Cole is selling eight of its 31 stores in Washington state, not because of its unemployment or workers' compensation costs, its tax burden, its regulatory burden, or any of those other "business climate" bugaboos that are the rote rhetoric of corporate lobbyists. It's because the company can't compete with Wal-Mart's tax-subsidized low prices.

Rather than let anti-government ideologues at corporate lobbying associations speak for him, Brown & Cole President Craig Cole testified himself in support of the HCRA this session. By letting big companies like Wal-Mart avoid their health-care responsibilities and even subsidizing his competitors, Cole said, the state leaves businesses like his to "feel like chumps for covering their employees."

The HCRA will be back next year. We hope that in the interim, lawmakers who weren't quite ready to support it will look at the economic carnage happening all around them and realize we can't afford inaction. Health care is a shared responsibility and all sectors -- public and private -- must do their part to address this growing crisis.

Check out the WSLC's Legislative Tracker™ online at www.wslc.org/legis/tracker.htm to learn the status (or fate) of many of the working families bills we've been following. Here are updates on a few of the issues still in play:

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE: The effort to address the negative economic consequences of the Unemployment Insurance overhaul in 2003 remains alive. HB 2255, Rep. Steve Conway's (D-Tacoma) title-only UI bill, has fiscal implications so it is immune from Wednesday's cutoff deadline.

As mentioned in last week's edition, new data from the Employment Security Department shows our state economy will take a $234 million hit this year as a result of the severe benefit cuts rammed through in 2003. Legislators have heard from many of the construction workers and others who were disproportionately harmed by these benefit cuts. But they are also hearing from corporate lobbyists who essentially argue the 2003 changes (despite being passed without a public hearing literally in the middle of the night) are perfect as they are and should not be changed under any circumstances.

The legislature has an obligation to look at the negative impact of 2003 UI overhaul on unemployed workers and the businesses in their communities. Labor thinks the evidence is clear that the pendulum has swung too far toward cuts and economic destabilization -- further than the legislature ever intended -- and that some balance can and should be restored by mitigating these cuts. Lawmakers should do this now rather than wait and allow more families and businesses to suffer needlessly.

RETRO REFORM: The Washington State Labor Council was disappointed that SB 5842 failed to get a Senate floor vote before Wednesday's cutoff deadline. Apparently, supporters were just one shy of the 25 votes necessary for passage. The partisan lines drawn on this issue underscore the need for reform, not just because a work safety program has become mired in politics, but because questions about the retro program's effectiveness cannot today be answered.

The WSLC stands by our assertions that this politically insulated program -- which involves hundreds of millions of dollars from our state workers' compensation system -- over time has become rigged by the biggest retro groups to gain unfair recruiting advantages over other groups, to receive disproportionately high incentive payments, and to fund the lobbying, legal and political activities of private corporate interests, activities that have nothing to do with work safety.

It is the state legislature's absolute responsibility to take a look at this program and answer some critical questions. Is the amount of money invested in this program justified? Do the payments to retro employers unfairly increase the premiums for non-retro employers? Do retro safety programs even reduce injuries?

Such questions remain unanswered largely because all the people asking them stand accused of "political payback." All workers and employers who contribute to our workers' compensation system have a vested interest in the scrutiny and reform of this expensive safety program, not just corporate special interests and political parties.

ELECTION REFORM: Speaking of retro safety incentives and what they fund, Dino Rossi's continuing campaign for governor -- a campaign not subject to contribution limits, by the way -- has led to Republican claims of felons and dead people illegally voting. Press reports indicate that the extent of the problem has been significantly exaggerated, but nonetheless, Democrats who control the legislature have stepped up and proposed some voter registration changes to ensure votes are legal and increase public confidence in the system.

SB 5743, sponsored by Sen. Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup), passed the Senate unanimously on March 7. But now some senators who voted "yes" are saying they had no idea about the potential consequences of a floor amendment adopted right before passage. Sponsored by Sen. Pam Roach (R-Auburn), the amendment requires county auditors to verify with federal immigration authorities the citizenship of each voting applicant. The effect will be that people with Hispanic and "foreign-sounding" surnames will be targeted for investigations and some naturalized citizens are likely to be disenfranchised with no means of appealing those decisions.

Despite unprecedented scrutiny of the 2004 election results and the legality of every vote, there is not a single case of undocumented immigrants illegally voting. This amendment aims to solve a problem that doesn't exist and, in the process, will disenfranchise Hispanics and other Washington citizens. On top of that, county auditors can't afford these investigations. "We don’t have the staff or the time or the money to do all of these investigations," Corky Mattingly, president of the Washington State Association of County Auditors, told the Tri-City Herald.

FAMILY LEAVE: SB 5069, the Family Leave Insurance bill sponsored by Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Des Moines), passed the State Senate on Tuesday night 26-21. Sens. Don Benton (R-Vancouver) and Bob Oke (R-Post Orchard) joined all Democrats -- except Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen (D-Camano Island) -- in supporting the measure. Mason County Commissioner Tim "Call Me Maverick" Sheldon (Independent), who moonlights in the State Senate, sided with the minority.

Under SB 5069, workers who must temporarily leave their jobs to care for newborn or adopted children or for sick family members would get up to 5 weeks of job-protected paid leave. The maximum benefit would be $250 per week, and cost workers about $40 a year. It was amended before passage to exempt employers with 50 or fewer employees but allow them to opt in, if they so choose.

This pro-family, pro-labor and pro-business bill now moves to the House Commerce and Labor Committee. We will let you know when it is scheduled for a hearing.

MONDAY -- At 1:30 p.m. House Commerce and Labor will hear SB 5551 studying the state minimum wage. At 3:30 p.m. Senate Health and Long-Term Care will hear HB 1486 requiring state agencies to report the employment status of Medicaid and BHP recipients.

TUESDAY -- At 10 a.m. Senate Labor and Commerce will hear HB 1310 regarding electronic data reporting for workers' comp self-insurers.

WEDNESDAY -- At 8 a.m. Senate Early Learning, K-12 and Higher Education will hear HJR 4205 allowing a simple majority of voters to authorize school levies.

THURSDAY -- At 8 a.m. Senate Labor and Commerce will hear HB 1732 allowing additional workers' comp benefits when Social Security benefits are reduced, and HB 1841 revising provisions for electrical trainees. At 1:30 p.m. House Commerce and Labor will hear SB 5720 limiting employee noncompete agreements in the broadcasting industry.