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October 13, 2009 |
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Updated DAILY... Almost
Every Day!™ by 9 a.m. Pacific
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Tuesday
An
honest discussion about workers' comp
(Guest column by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Rep. Steve Conway) -- Some argue the proposed workers' compensation rate increase for 2010 is evidence the system is broken and vow to seek changes that will cut injured workers' benefits to drop premiums even lower. Such changes would be unfounded. The problem isn't the system, it's the recession. Cutting benefits wouldn't constitute "reform." That would merely salt the open wounds of families who have lost their source of income at the worst possible time. Workers' compensation is about what is best for injured workers. Let's not forget, what helps injured workers get back to work helps their employers. Read more.
Health reform news:
► From AP -- Baucus: "Time to get the job done" -- Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has convened his panel for a long-anticipated vote on sweeping health reform. The expected approval by Baucus' committee would mark the biggest step forward yet for President Obama's top domestic priority. The 10-year, $829-billion plan would require all Americans to purchase insurance and aims to hold down spiraling medical costs over the long term.
►
In today's NY Times -- Eyes
on key Republican as vote looms today -- Sen.
Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is the only Republican on the panel that has
expressed willingness to support the bill, and so far has not offered clues
about how she’ll vote on the bill today. Her vote could offer an important
signal about where the debate is headed in the days ahead.
► In today's NY Times -- Democrats call insurance industry report flawed -- “This is a distorted and flawed report from the insurance industry and cannot be taken seriously. This so-called analysis appears on the eve of a vote that may eat into the insurance industry’s profits. It conveniently ignores policies that will lower costs for those who have insurance, expand coverage and provide affordable insurance options to millions of Americans.”
► In today's NY Times -- Congress is split on effort to tax costly plans -- Supporters, including many senators, say that the tax is essential to tamping down medical spending and that over 10 years it would generate more than $200 billion, nearly a fourth of what is needed to pay for the legislation. Critics, including House members and labor unions, say the tax would quickly spiral out of control and hit middle-class workers. Many Democratic senators, including Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus like the idea and Obama embraced it in a Sept. 9 speech.
► In today's Spokesman-Review -- Rep. McMorris Rodgers urges piecemeal reform -- If Senate Democrats try to push a bill through with just 51 votes through a parliamentary maneuver, “a lot of us will be standing up and basically just trying to shut the place down,” the Republican says.
► From AP -- Support for health care overhaul hanging in there -- The latest poll has found that opposition to Obama's health care remake dropped dramatically in just a matter of weeks.
► At TheOlympian.com -- Rep. Baird might reject health-care bill over 72-hour rule -- The Vancouver Democrat says he may withhold his vote on HR 3200 if adequate time is not given to review it.
Initiative 1033 news:
►
In today's Bellingham Herald -- Tax
initiative in Colorado is an example of what not to do
(guest column) -- Eyman's
proposed overhaul of our state's way of raising the revenue to meet people's
needs contains the same toxic ingredients as a law that wrecked Colorado's
economy and ability to provide for education and health care. Colorado
voters approved this law in 1992, only to vote to along strongly bipartisan
lines to suspend it later because of the damage inflicted on the Rocky
Mountain state's schools, transportation infrastructure and health care
system.
► In today's Daily News -- I-1033 unfairly targets local governments (editorial) -- I-1033 reaches too far, covering local and state governments, and its timing could not be worse for setting the baseline for the revenue-growth cap. (Even the ultra-conservative (Longview) Daily News joins the long list of newspapers across the state weighing in against Eyman's I-1033.)
► From AP -- Flood of last-minute cash against I-1033 -- National labor unions and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates are among the donors who have poured nearly $1.5 million of last-minute cash into the campaign against I-1033, which imposes revenue caps on government.
► In today's Seattle Times -- Seattle calculates Eyman's I-1033 budget impact at $150M in 2015 -- Assuming the city budget would be about $1 billion that year, that means a 12-15% decrease in the amount available for the budget. Overall, the governor's budget office projects I-1033 would divert more than $8 billion from state, county and city general funds from 2011 to 2015.
► In today's Peninsula Daily News -- I-1033 would "repeatedly, permanently shrink" revenue base -- Jefferson County's assessor tells the county administrator that I-1033 would have far worse county-government consequence than the top county executive was reporting.
► In today's Walla Walla U-B -- Walla Walla County opposes I-1033 -- Commissioners unanimously OK a resolution that “finds 1033 would have detrimental impact on the county and its citizens.”
► In today's Bellingham Herald -- City Council opposes I-1033, urges approval of Referendum 71 -- Bellingham City Council members pass resolutions opposing a government revenue-restricting initiative from Tim Eyman and backing a domestic partnership law approved by the Legislature.
Referendum 71 news:
►
In today's News Tribune -- Approve
Ref. 71 to fulfill promise of civil unions (editorial) --
R-71 is a collection of big and small benefits that together would help make
life easier and fairer for committed same-sex couples. R-71 would give
domestic partners the ability to use sick leave to care for a sick partner.
It would give them business succession rights. It would fulfill the promise
of civil unions, which were created exactly because same-sex couples can’t
marry. The News Tribune recommends voters approve Ref. 71. (The
WSLC is urging union members to approve Ref. 71.)
► In today's Everett Herald -- Supporters, foes sound off on Ref. 71 -- Supporters and opponents make passionate pleas at a forum on whether voters should view the measure as providing equal rights for all families or undermining the foundation of traditional marriage.
Local news:
► At TheOlympian.com -- Sen. Zarelli thinks special session needed in December -- Given that the budget shortfall facing lawmakers in January has swollen to somewhere between $1 billion and $1.7 billion, and given that lawmakers are already going to be in town in early December for committee meetings, the Ridgefield Republican suggests that legislators get a jumpstart on the budget shortfall and cuts that will need to be made anyway.
► In today's Yakima H-R -- Union Gap takes heat over plan to cut four employees -- Using words like "ridiculous" and "irresponsible," more than 50 people attended Monday's City Council meeting to question why four city employees may soon lose their jobs.
► In today's Tri-City Herald -- Kennewick official says layoffs may be necessary -- A $1.6 million shortfall forecast for its 2009-10 budget is expected to mean layoffs at city hall by year's end.
► At SeattlePI.com -- Alabama senator wants to delay tanker bidding -- Sen. Sessions (R-Ala.) vows to bring back a failed measure to block tanker funding until the Pentagon gives Northrop Grumman the same details about Boeing's previous bid that Boeing got about the Airbus bid.
National news:
► In the Boston Globe -- Stalled agenda irks labor leaders -- With Democrats in control of Congress and the White House, organized labor had hoped to be celebrating a long list of legislative successes this year. Instead, labor’s agenda has been pushed down on the priority list by the very lawmakers they helped elect, leaving some union backers frustrated.
►
From Reuters -- UAW,
Ford reach tentative deal on contract changes -- The United Auto Workers
and Ford have reached a tentative agreement on contract changes the
automaker wants to bring labor costs in line with U.S. rivals, the union and
company say. Both parties declined to release details of the changes pending
the UAW membership vote. Ford has said its existing
agreement puts the company at a disadvantage compared with GM and Chrysler,
which went through government-supported bankruptcies and now have UAW
contracts that include a no-strike clause for the next contract, fewer
skilled-trades classifications and wage freezes for new hires.
► In today's NY Times -- Trial to begin on illegal workers at Iowa slaughterhouse -- The former chief executive of the slaughterhouse that was at the center of one of nation’s largest immigration raids will be in federal court today to face charges including money laundering and bank fraud.
► In today's NY Times -- Preventing age discrimination (editorial) -- Congress must undo the damage done to age discrimination law by a recent Supreme Court ruling, and put the standards for proving such cases back on a level with other bias cases.
► At Huffington Post -- U.S. Chamber of Commerce may be inflating membership numbers -- The Chamber began exaggerating its membership numbers in February 1997, when its ranks suddenly grew from about 200,000 to a staggering 3 million. The jump coincided with the appointment of current president Tom Donohue. The business lobbying group builds up its numbers by including the membership of the 2,800 local chambers. However, the national organization has little relationship with its local chapters. (Meanwhile, as the Chamber continues to advocate against climate change legislation and for gang-rape cover-ups by military contractors, the "nation's largest business organization" is losing members.)
TUESDAY,
OCTOBER 13, 2009
An
honest discussion about workers' comp
Key legislators say recession,
not system, caused proposed rate increase
The following guest column by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle), chair of the Senate Labor, Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee, and Rep. Steve Conway (D-Tacoma), chair of the House Commerce and Labor Committee, appears in today's edition of The Seattle Times.
WHAT if you were told you could sign up for a health-insurance plan whose premiums have increased by only 8 percent over the past five years?
Better yet, the plan's so good that during that time it gave customers a rate "holiday" of six months when they didn't have to pay anything saving them about $315 million.
You'd sign up, wouldn't you?
We ask because the state Department of Labor & Industries runs just such an insurance plan — our state's workers' compensation system. It's unjustly taking heat because of a recent proposal to raise rates despite performing at levels worthy of nationwide envy.
Workers' compensation is our safety net for families who lose their income because of work-related injury or illness. Sought by business interests a century ago, workers agreed to give up their right to sue their employers when they are injured at work in exchange for this no-fault insurance. It has since proved to be good for employers and employees alike.
In Washington, injured workers and their families get better benefits here than they do in most other states. And employers' costs are significantly lower, largely because of reduced overhead costs. Overhead costs in Washington's public workers' compensation system make up about 9-13 percent of all costs, a fraction of the 25-35 percent overhead most private plans charge.
The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services' comparison of the most-costly workers' compensation systems ranks Washington 38th. And workers here pay about 25 percent of those premiums, meaning that only four states have lower costs for employers. It's one of the reasons the Tax Foundation just moved Washington up three spots to the ninth-most-favorable business-tax climates in its annual rankings. Also, Forbes just named Washington the second-best state for business.
However, the national recession has done about $1 billion worth of damage to the workers' compensation trust fund. Investments have suffered, unemployment has increased, and work hours have been reduced. Ultimately, workers and employers are paying less to support the system.
The Department of Labor and Industries will adopt its 2010 rates in late November following six public hearings: Tukwila: Oct. 27, 1 p.m., L&I Office, 12806 Gateway Dr.
Tumwater: Oct. 28, 10 a.m., L&I Headquarters, 7273 Linderson Way S.W.
Vancouver: Oct. 28, 10 a.m., Red Lion Inn at the Quay, 100 Columbia St.
Bellingham: Oct. 29, 1 p.m., Bellingham Quality Inn, 100 E. Kellogg Road
Spokane: Oct. 30, 9 a.m., Spokane Airport Ramada, 8909 W. Airport Dr.
Richland: Oct. 30, 2 p.m., Richland Hampton Inn, 486 Bradley Blvd.
Meanwhile, the health-care cost of treating injured workers is growing by about 8.5 percent a year. That's why the state just announced a proposed 7.6 percent premium increase for 2010. If approved following a series of public hearings, the increase would raise an additional $117 million to keep the system solvent.
To keep Washington's workers' compensation rates among the nation's lowest, we'll continue to pursue targeted improvements to enhance our system. For instance, we're fixing the glitches discovered last year in the Retro program, which rewards businesses that reduce on-the-job injuries. We're building on the best practices pioneered by our Centers of Occupational Health and Education (COHE) pilot projects, seeking to link doctors, employers and injured workers more efficiently and effectively. We're also rooting out fraud and ensuring the workers' compensation program strictly follows the spirit of the law.
Some argue the workers' compensation rate increase is evidence the system is broken and will seek changes that will cut injured workers' benefits to drop premiums even lower ["Fix Washington's failing workers' compensation system," guest commentary, Opinion, Sept. 24]. Such changes would be unfounded. The problem isn't the system, it's the recession.
Cutting benefits wouldn't constitute "reform." That would merely salt the open wounds of families who have lost their source of income at the worst possible time. Workers' compensation is about what is best for injured workers. Let's not forget, what helps injured workers get back to work helps their employers.
Let's retain our perspective and have an honest discussion about how we can make a system that's one of the best in the country even better for employers and workers alike.
Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, left, chairs the Senate Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee. Rep. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, chairs the House Commerce & Labor Committee.
Copyright © 2009 -- Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO