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Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
a weekly report on the 2003 session  (Previous editions)

FRIDAY, MARCH 28  (download and print a PDF version)
All-cuts budget alarms voters

Many bills—good and bad—have been debated and voted upon so far. But now things have slowed to a crawl as we enter the Death Valley phase of the session where most of the House-approved bills (good) and Senate-approved measures (bad) face opposition in the opposing house.  Many bills that easily passed the House or Senate with bipartisan support won't even rate a committee hearing now.  With that, and the recent revenue forecast that increased our budget shortfall from $2.4 to $2.6 billion, the focus in Olympia has shifted to the budget.

In general terms, the budget debate is about whether our state should simply cut its way out of the problem or include new revenue to mitigate the damage.  Governor Locke's Price (renamed Priorities) of Government exercise goes the all-cuts route and is hailed by Corporate Washington and the anti-government, pro-privatization think tanks they sponsor.  Democrats, social service advocates and organized labor say a more balanced approach that includes cuts and new revenue is necessary.

As you might imagine, polling has shown that Washington voters don't like the idea of higher taxes.  Well, duh.  Ask voters whether they support paying more to help deal with our state budget shortfall in this feeble Bush economy and they'll say "no" and throw in a bonus expletive or two.

But as soon as you start explaining exactly how "cutting state spending" affects specific programs and schools in their communities, that all changes.  For example, a just-released Elway poll shows a majority of respondents say they would be willing to pay higher taxes to maintain government-subsidized health care programs like the Basic Health Plan.

So voter education efforts have stepped up pressuring legislators to do the right thing.  

The Committee to Protect Our Community’s Future, a broad coalition of labor, social service, senior, community, consumer and religious groups opposing Locke's all-cuts budget proposal, has kicked its grassroots education campaign into high gear this week.  Press conferences were held in districts across the state to explain to people exactly how the all-cuts budget would impact funding at their local school districts, nursing homes, hospitals and health care programs.  Posters are being... posted... in senior centers, business windows and other public areas across the state that explain what the all-cuts budget would cost local schools, how many local families would have their health care jeopardized, what nursing homes will face reduced funding, and other facts to "put a face" on the budget cuts. In addition, Labor Neighbor phone banking is delivering the same information to union households. (Volunteer for the phone banks by contacting WSLC Political Director Diane McDaniel at 206-281-8901.)

The momentum in this debate appears to be shifting.

The governor's all-cuts budget—initially praised in the media for the start-from-scratch newness of the process, as opposed to what it actually did—is looking more and more extreme and heartless as details emerge.  Even the uber-conservative King County (formerly Eastside) Journal editorialized this week: "While it’s possible to cut $2.6 billion in state spending, even the Grinch would have trouble stomaching that. The toll on individuals and families, many already in desperate straits, would be catastrophic."

Even so, Senate Republican Leader Jim West is still saying his caucus will support no new taxes.  We're told the Senate GOP could release their budget proposal as soon as next week and it's likely to be all cuts.

If you haven't already, now would be a good time to make your first budget-related call to your state legislators.  Call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and tell your Senator, Representatives and the governor to stop the cuts and take a more balanced approach with our state budget.

Business: No new taxes! (except for roads)

The business community is in lockstep with the Senate Republicans who oppose all tax increases.  (In fact, they look to extend their expiring tax exemptions, prevent performance audits of existing tax breaks, and add some expensive new ones.)  The specific companies that comprise these business associations often promote themselves as community-minded social benefactors by contributing to local charities, opera houses and such. They seem largely shielded from criticism for the irresponsible nature and cruel consequences of their lobbyists' anti-government efforts.

But they are able to make ideological exceptions when it comes to programs they support.  Unlike services for developmentally disabled children, nursing homes and public health, Corporate Washington wants better roads.  So the you-can't-tax-your-way-out-of-a-recession talking points are hypocritically set aside for the transportation budget.

As you've probably heard by now, the House Democrats proposed a transportation package with a 3-cent gas tax increase and more funding for public transit.  One of the gripes about last year's unsuccessful Ref. 51 was that it was roads-heavy and slighted transit agencies.

Press reports indicate Senate Republicans will outdo the tax-and-spend Democrats with a 5-cent increase that again focuses on roads and offers little for transit.  But their proposal will likely also include all sorts of unacceptable attacks on working and living standards of anyone whose job it is to build or maintain those roads.  As you might have guessed, the governor's proposal splits the difference with a 4-cent increase.  Locke says it's meant to spur action and compromise between the caucuses' competing proposals.

The best news is that all three proposals aim for legislative, not voter, approval. Organized labor has consistently argued that it is legislators' responsibility to address this problem themselves and take the tough vote.

Will "straight eights" cost the state $100 million?

SB 6054 seeks to clarify the application of the Industrial Welfare Act for public employees.  It's in response to a recent court decision saying public entities are subject to the IWA which, among other things, requires rest and meal breaks. It's also in response to a new class-action lawsuit by 11,000 state corrections workers who seek compensation for three years' worth of missed breaks.  The case could cost the state $100 million or $270 million depending on who you ask.

The problem is, many public employee unions have negotiated into their contracts what are called "straight eight" shifts, a popular clause allowing workers to skip breaks and leave work after eight hours on the job.  Straight eights have been sought and attained by the workers, and several unions testifying in support of SB 6054 said they want to retain the ability to negotiate such clauses superceding the IWA.

SB 6054 says all government workers are subject to IWA provisions from date of passage but prior to that, they weren't.  Public employees would retain the ability to negotiate conditions of employment that vary from or supercede IWA protections—like allowing straight eights—in collective bargaining agreements.  Obviously, this would cut the class-action lawsuit off at the knees, so the attorneys representing those workers testified against the bill.

Given our $2.6 billion revenue shortfall, it seems patently unfair that the state could face hundreds of millions of dollars in liability for agreeing to a practice sought by the workers themselves.  But the bill also raises concerns about letting important worker standards be "negotiated away."

Stay tuned as the analysis of this one continues.

Move up primary election, prevent initiative fraud

There are several bills addressing election issues related to the King County mail ballot debacle of last fall, and the long-simmering issues of getting timely primary results and the integrity of the initiative process.  Here's a heads-up on two WSLC-supported bills of particular importance:

HB 1431 changes the primary election to the first Wednesday after the first Monday in September. Moving the primary to right after Labor Day will give county auditors several badly needed extra days to process primary mail ballots and determine outcomes of close races in plenty of time for the general election.

HB 1660 requires all initiative signature gatherers to sign each of their petitions and include their addresses. This will allow our state to begin tracking voter fraud in the signature gathering process. There is an absolutely critical need for this given the explosion of paid signature gathering in this state, the obvious incentives to falsify signatures and the incidental evidence that these fraudulent signatures are being counted and helping measures qualify for the ballot. A similar law in Oregon helped uncover massive fraud by their resident initiative guru/gadfly.

One compromise that shouldn't happen

The Department of Labor and Industries continues to seek a reduction in workers' compensation benefits, essentially seeking to stabilize the mismanaged fund on the backs of injured workers.  They do so through a proposal to limit the Cockle decision, allowing only health benefits (not pension and other benefits) to be considered in determining the value of workers' compensation packages, and a bill to restrict occupational hearing loss benefits.  Business interests support those efforts and have one-upped the anti-worker L&I proposals with their own bill, SB 5728, which would cut benefits even further.

But we've reported all this before.  One thing we haven't reported is that L&I is seeking a change in vocational rehabilitation benefits that would include something called "compromise and release," where workers agree to a certain amount of money and release the department from further liability for time-loss benefits due to the injury.  The experience in other states with such policies is that desperate out-of-work people will quickly accept these settlements, but then they are either reinjured or incapacitated longer than they anticipated.  Having signed away their injured worker benefits, they are then truly desperate.  That's why we will have some serious internal discussions within labor before we consider such a change.

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PREVIOUS EDITIONS of the WSLC Legislative Update:

March 21 -- Paying a price for neglect (re" Home care workers' contract; plus a bill roundup)
March 14 -- Job-Killing Bulls--- (re: Olympia rhetoric that pro-workers bills are all "job killers")
March 7 -- What a Difference a House Makes
Feb. 21 -- Workplace safety in jeopardy (re: BIAW ergo initiative, blocking WISHA inspections)
Feb. 14 -- MORE business tax breaks?!  (re: digging a deeper budget hole with no accountability)
Feb. 7 -- Commerce and ANTI-Labor? (re: workers' comp, minimum wage and transportation)
Feb. 3 -- Now is the time... to pay less? (re: workers' comp and minimum wage)
Jan. 24 -- Drug bill off to a strong start; competagogues go after ergonomics rule again
Jan. 17 -- It's the Economy, Stupid!  (re: "competagogues" and Washington's business environment)
Jan. 10 -- A Question of Priorities  (re: explosion of corporate influence on government)

Copyright © 2003  Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO