Legislative news:

►  In today's Olympian -- Lawmakers wrangle over state employee furlough bill -- For now, the controversial Senate proposal to save $50 million or more by shutting down state agency functions for one day a month and temporarily laying off staffers once a month is stalled in the House. Rep. Brendan Williams (D-Olympia) objects to the idea and has offered an amendment he hopes will poison further interest in furloughs. His amendment requires state lawmakers to take cuts in their “per diem” expense allowances.

►  In the Kitsap Sun -- Supporters of Bremerton's Frances Haddon Morgan Center stage rally -- The 56-bed center, which serves severely developmentally disabled children and adults -- most are also diagnosed with autism -- is one of five rehabilitation centers operated by the state. "We understand the state’s looking at a budget deficit,” said Gary Hill, a former counselor at the center. “But when you’re looking at closing down someone’s home, I feel that’s not right."

►  At TheOlympian.com -- Poll shows support for taxes to help elderly -- A new Elway Poll finds that 47% say they would vote for a legislator who “voted to raise taxes in order to maintain services for elderly and disabled people;” 24% said that it made no difference; and 24% say they would vote against such a lawmaker.

►  At CrossCut -- A whiff of mutiny among Democrats in Olympia -- Democratic majorities are much less solid than the numbers indicate. Caucus mutinies are brewing over the budget and taxes, both on the left and the center. This week, some important cards will be laid on the table.

►  At Publicola -- Transit funding bill now in trouble -- HB 2855, which would allow local transit agencies to to charge a $20 vehicle-license fee to help fund transit, cleared the House and Senate last year only to be vetoed by Gov. Gregoire. This year, transit advocates believe Gregoire would sign it, but sponsor Rep. Marko Liias (D-Edmonds) says, although the bill is ready to be sent to the floor for a vote, House Democratic leadership might not go for it.

►  From AP -- Senate approves tuition control for UW, WSU and WWU -- Under the proposal, the universities could raise tuition each year for seven years. Yearly tuition hikes would be capped at 14%, provided the average annual increase compounded over 15 years wouldn't exceed 9%.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- State lawmakers must retain need grants for college students (guest column by Larry Gossett) -- Less funding assistance for tuition equates to less access and less diversity on the UW campus. If proposed cuts in state need grants are put in place, students at colleges and universities across the state will not be able to reach their potential.

►  In the Olympian -- Legislature targets some boards for ax -- House members have pared down the list of boards they’re considering for elimination to 50 from the 78 that Gov. Gregoire suggested. Forty-one boards would be cut by the Senate’s plan, which it approved last week.

Boeing news:

►  In the (Everett) Herald -- Boeing's presence in Olympia quieter but still felt, Gregoire says -- "There’s a new focus. A year ago it was all about Boeing. Now it is about an industry sector in the state of Washington, and that sector is aerospace. .... All of that hype of a year ago has diminished. The commitment to the aerospace industry has not diminished."

►  At HeraldNet.com -- Analyst: Local Boeing Machinist union should divorce national union -- Aerospace analyst Scott Hamilton says that the local Machinists have proven much more creative and willing to work with Boeing than has the national union. (Or, Boeing Commercial Aircrafts should divorce itself from the short-sighted neo-con attorneys, accountants and Wall Streeters at Boeing HQ in Chicago. Just a thought from another local "industry analyst.")

►  In the News Tribune -- Rep. Norm Dicks poised to lead defense subcommittee -- Coupled with Rep. Adam Smith’s new chairmanship of an important House Armed Services subcommittee, it gives Washington state a major voice in national security and defense polices. It also could provide a boost to the state’s military bases and to Boeing.

Health care news:

►  In today's NY Times -- In California, Exhibit A in debate on health insurance -- With health care negotiations stalled in Washington, the Obama administration is seizing on the seething fury felt by nearly 700,000 Anthem Blue Cross customers in California who have received notices of increases that average 25%. About a quarter of them are seeing leaps of 35% to 39%, at least four times the rate of medical inflation

►  Today from AP -- Individual insurance rates soar in 4 states -- Consumers who buy their own health insurance in Oregon, Maine, Kansas and perhaps more states are getting hit with premium increases of 15% or more -- and people in other states could see the same thing.

►  In today's NY Times -- Excise tax loses support amid White House push on health care -- An agreement to tax high-cost health insurance plans, announced with fanfare by the White House and labor unions last month, is losing support from labor leaders, who say the proposal is too high a price to pay for the limited health care package they expect to emerge from Congress.

►  In the Yakima H-R -- Business as usual not acceptable (editorial) -- With 46 million Americans uninsured and millions more likely to be added if nothing is done, surely some common ground can be found. Creating jobs is also seen as a critical issue that needs to be addressed, but if losing a job also means losing health care insurance, no one wins -- regardless of whether you call yourself a Blue-Dog Democrat or a Tea Party Republican.

Local news:

►  In the Olympian -- Jobless benefits fraud falls in 2009 -- Although the number of fraudulent unemployment claims in Thurston and Pierce counties fell in 2009 from 2008, the rate of jobless benefits paid out as an "honest mistake" increased in the two counties during the same period.

►  In the Kitsap Sun -- Electric plant in Shelton would be fueled with wood waste --  The 55-megawatt, $250 million plant is large enough to serve 40,000 homes and will be fueled with 500,000 to 600,000 tons of green wood waste each year.

National news:

►  At WashingtonPost.com -- AFL-CIO urges challenge of White House on NLRB -- In a clear indication that labor unions are running out of patience with the Obama administration, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka sent out a sharply worded action alert to its entire e-mail list, urging phone calls to the White House to protest its inaction on two NLRB nominees.

►  In the Oakland Tribune -- Oakland airport screeners rally for union rights -- Political and labor leaders joined security workers at Oakland International Airport for a rally demanding union rights. About 75 transportation security officers, union members and others chanted and waved signs near the airport's Terminal 2. (A rally was held at SeaTac Airport last month.)

►  At Huffington Post -- America's only "socialist" bank thriving during economic downturn -- Officials in other states are wondering if the Bank of North Dakota is helping that state sail through the national recession. North Dakota has the nation's lowest unemployment rate at 4.4%, soaring oil production and a robust state budget surplus. The bank's president says he's gotten "tons" of inquiries about the bank's workings, including questions from Washington state. 

►  In today's Washington Post -- Democratic Sen. Bayh of Indiana won't run for re-election -- After other departures, his decision could imperil Democrats' prospects of retaining Senate control.

Several thousand people came to Olympia on Monday to tell state lawmakers to raise substantial revenue in order to avoid another round of devastating cuts in state services and jobs -- cuts that are harming our quality of life and out economy in Washington State. Police estimate the "Rally to Protect Our Future" drew more than 6,000 people, while a rally held earlier in the day by anti-tax "teabaggers" was attended by fewer than half that number.

Washington State Labor Council President Rick Bender told the crowd that the Legislature needs to close special-interest tax loopholes and stop cutting public jobs, health care and other critical services. He also urged state legislators to take the first step by suspending Initiative 960, which allows a one-third minority of legislators to block any revenue increases.

"We won't let Eyman extremists and 34 percent of the Legislature veto our future," Bender said. "We are not going to allow them to slash funding for health care, education and other necessary services."

Initiative profiteer Tim Eyman, the author of 2007's I-960 that passed with 51% of the vote in a year that state coffers were flush with cash, is threatening to put the any revenue package on this November's ballot. This drew a challenge at Monday's noontime rally from state Sen. Ed Murray (D-Seattle).

"Now I promise you, we are going to do our part here," Murray said. "We're going to close those tax loopholes. And we are going to raise revenue. But once we do that, you and I have a challenge:... Will you be there in November to uphold the revenue?"

The crowd shouted, "Yes!"

Carol Dotlich, President of the Washington Federation of State Employees, AFSCME Council 28, invoked the high standard set by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who died while standing up for the beaten-down AFSCME sanitation workers in Memphis.

"Brothers and sisters, today it is our turn to stand up," Dotlich said. "We have to stand up for the beaten-down public service workers who deliver services to the State of Washington. We have to stand up for the citizens that we serve and protect. We have to stand up for the vulnerable, the elderly, and for our children. We have to stand up for clean drinking water, for parks, for natural resources. We have to stand up for the mentally ill, for public safety, for veterans and for higher education.

"Brothers and sisters, we are the safety net."

A News Tribune editorial (1-29) argued that because of unions’ political threats, the Democratic majority in Olympia is ignoring a "mandate" from business interests to lower workers’ compensation premiums. Unless business-backed reforms that cut injured workers’ benefits are approved, the editorial warns that the Building Industry Association of Washington will push its “drastic alternative” of privatizing the system.

The editorial doesn’t mention labor’s motivations for protecting our existing system -- except perhaps that we like to bully elected officials for sport -- so I thought I’d describe them. They are the injured workers.

Those people are mentioned just once in your editorial, when you suggest they are all lining up for the lifetime pensions that the state is handing out as fast as it can.

Reality check: Every day in this state people suffer work-related injuries and illnesses. Workers’ compensation is the safety net that pays for their medical treatment. For 75 percent of injured workers, that’s all they get, medical treatment. The remaining injuries are so severe that the worker cannot return to work. For them, the system partially replaces their lost wages until they are considered “employable” again – not at their job of injury, but at any job that pays the federal minimum wage.

Of those one-in-four injured workers who receive time-loss benefits, the median number of days they collect is 40 days in Washington’s public system. That compares favorably to the national median of 45 days, according to the National Council on Compensation Insurance.

In Washington, 1.5 percent of claims become pensions, where the person is permanently disabled and unable to ever return to work. These aren’t folks faking back injuries. If so, they are committing fraud and should be prosecuted.

Permanently disabled people haven’t won Lotto. They can no longer earn a living, and many have significant new expenses related to their medical conditions. But regardless of what they earned when injured, their benefits are capped at 120 percent of the state’s average wage – or about $40,000 annually. Most get substantially less than this maximum.

The News Tribune suggests this year’s 7.6 percent average premium increase is evidence of a broken system. In the five years prior to this increase, premiums increased a total of 8 percent. Given health care’s skyrocketing costs, that isn’t bad.

To put this year’s 7.6 percent increase in further perspective, it will raise $117 million. Three years ago, our system was so flush that the state approved a six-month “rate holiday” when the medical portion of coverage was free. That saved $315 million. The 2007 rate holiday saved employers more than 2 1/2 times the cost of the 2010 increase.

What has changed is a national recession. Our system’s reserves took a $1 billion hit and that forced this year’s increase. Even so, independent assessments still rank Washington’s public workers’ compensation system as being less expensive than most other states.  

That’s why the idea of inviting private insurance companies to take over our system is so absurd. Our friends at A.I.G., the nation’s largest private workers’ compensation insurer, charge premiums that are significantly higher in other states than ours. A Senate committee just heard testimony that 40 percent of private insurers’ premiums cover profits alone, something our nonprofit system doesn’t require.

At last count, 31 private insurers that rushed into California’s privatized market went bankrupt because they were undercharging their rates to gain market share. The state was forced to take on their $7 billion in liabilities, and imposed a new tax on all businesses and sold public bonds to cover the cost.

No, our workers’ compensation system isn’t perfect. There are ways to improve it for both employers and injured workers, and the labor movement is eager to work with the business community to accomplish this. But we oppose shredding – or selling – this important safety net for workers.

The News Tribune should take a more critical look at the claims of business lobbyists rather than perpetuating the fiction that this is a bad place to do business. All independent assessments from outside of this state – away from our internal corporate echo chamber of negativity – tout Washington as a great place to live, work and operate a business.

Let’s keep it that way – on all three counts.

Rick S. Bender is president of the Washington State Labor Council.