Legislative news:

►  In today's Olympian -- State employees' health costs: No relief in sight -- The workers' share of monthly premiums increased Jan. 1 by about 50% -- up $180 a year, on average -- for individual coverage in the Uniform Medical Plan. Deductibles and co-pays also went up for medicines and doctor visits. The outlook is worse for 2011. Most are expected to see out-of-pocket expenses jump between $550 and $1,250 per year in 2010, and deductibles that now average $250 per person are likely to double in 2011. “There’s no question that preventing further takeaways in health care is our top priority,” said WFSE Executive Director Greg Devereux. “We have other priorities. There are facility closings, employee layoffs, child-welfare privatization. ... We’re getting decimated in many different areas.”

►  From AP -- Lawmakers look for revenue options -- In their scramble for sources of tax revenue, Gov. Gregoire and legislative leaders will surely consider increasing “sin” taxes, including junk food and maybe even bottled water. Tax breaks targeted to particular industries are on the chopping block and lawmakers will probably close a multimillion-dollar loophole for out-of-state companies. But if all the scrounging doesn’t generate enough dough to save programs deemed necessary, legislators could find themselves back in the arms of an old, familiar friend: the state sales tax.

►  From AP -- State budget pictures bleak as lawmakers head back -- If you thought budgets were in bad shape last year, just wait: 2010 promises to be brutal. Across the nation, tax collections continue to sputter. Federal stimulus dollars are about to dry up. Rainy day funds have been tapped. And demand for services -- like Medicaid, food stamps and unemployment benefits -- is soaring. "It's going to be the toughest year yet," says one national analyst.

►  From AP -- New payday lending law takes effect in Washington -- Effective Jan. 1, payday loans are limited to 30% of a person's monthly income, or $700, whichever is less. The new law bars multiple loans from different lenders, limits the number of loans a person can take out to eight per 12 months, and sets up a database to track the number of loans taken out by people.

►  From AP -- Environmentalists scale back -- With the Legislature facing a $2.6 billion deficit, state environmentalists have a modest agenda for the upcoming session and hope to avoid further cutbacks they say have already devastated environmental protection in the state.

Legislative opinion:

►  In the Seattle Times -- Advice on how not to lose the next big business competition (guest column by Aaron Reardon) -- Legislators should restore the 2003 changes in unemployment benefits, lower workers' compensation costs, enact tax exemptions for targeted industries, and maintain funding for higher education and workforce training (Translation: Cut benefits for workers who are laid-off or injured at work, and cut taxes even more for businesses and corporations while waving Reardon's magic budget wand to maintain education funds. In Snohomish County, his idea to balance the budget was to impose a 5.7% pay cut for all county employees.)

►  In Sunday's Columbian -- Privatize services (editorial) -- For 2010, all levels of government should resolve to stop coddling public workers by exempting them from the recession that has devastated virtually every corner of the private-sector economy. But can the politicians -- many of them tied to public-worker unions -- join agency leaders and contract negotiators in getting tough on benefits, privatizing government services and saving countless tax dollars?

Health care reform news: 

►  At Huffington Post -- Democrats "almost certain" to bypass conference -- Two senior Capitol Hill staffers, say House and Senate Democrats are “almost certain” to negotiate informally rather than convene a formal conference committee. Doing so would allow Democrats to avoid a series of procedural steps -- not least among them, a series of special motions in the Senate, each requiring a vote with full debate -- that Republicans could again use to stall deliberations. A decision to bypass conference would undoubtedly expedite the debate, clearing the way for final passage (if not signing) by the end of January.

►  At NYTimes.com -- Program for children has uncertain future -- What will Congress do about the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which now covers more than 9 million children and pregnant women and is expected to cover more than 14 million by 2013. The Senate bill would preserve it and extend its federal financing through 2015, two years past its current expiration date. The House bill would end it and redirect the millions of children to Medicaid or to new insurance exchanges.

►  In today's NY Times -- In health bill for everyone, provisions for a few -- Provisions in the Senate bill, including one singling out the construction industry for special treatment in a way that benefits union members and contractors who use union labor, are attracting scrutiny.

►  In the PS Business Journal -- Stay the course on health reform (column by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler) -- As Congress hashes out the details of health insurance reform, it’s worth remembering that there’s one option we can’t afford: keeping the status quo.

►  In the News Tribune -- Health care reform hinges on act's repeal (Rep. Tom Campbell column) -- My involvement in health care as both a provider and a legislator convinces me that there can be no health care reform without health insurance reform. And there cannot be health insurance reform unless the federal law exempting the insurance industry from federal antitrust law is repealed.

►  In the Olympian -- Businesses forecast jobs growth in 2010 -- Thurston County employers say they expect to hire more people in 2010 -- welcome news after a year riddled with layoffs, reduced hours, pay cuts and salary freezes. The state paid out nearly $4 billion in unemployment benefits last year, up from $1.2 billion in 2008 and $725 million in 2007.

►  In the Oregonian -- Oregon unemployment one of the worst in nation in 2009 -- The state's 11.1% jobless rate -- with 211,424 Oregonians unemployed -- still overshadows the national 10% level. (Washington state's unemployment rate stands at 9.2%.)

►  In the Kitsap Sun -- Kitsap mental health management accused of union-busting -- SEIU 1199NW has sent a memo to legislators accusing Kitsap Mental Health Services management of union-busting and misusing state-appropriated funds to do it. The union represents more than 200 people who work at the county’s only public mental health agency. (The Sun followed up with a story more sympathetic to management: Mental health workers: SEIU to "adversarial.")

National news:

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- This past decade worst ever for America's workers -- There has been zero net job creation since December 1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940s had job growth of less than 20%. Economic output rose at its slowest rate of any decade since the 1930s. But corporate CEOs did just fine, fueling America's growing economic inequality.

►  From AP -- Sen. Jim DeMint standing firm against TSA nominee -- The South Carolina Republican is blocking confirmation hearings for Erroll Southers because he supports allowing airport security screeners to form unions and bargain collectively, which DeMint opposes.

►  From AP -- Minimum wage cuts could hurt workers in Colorado -- Washington state’s minimum wage stays the same for 2010 at $8.55. But Colorado’s minimum has dropped three cents, the first decrease in any state’s minimum wage since the federal minimum was adopted in 1938.

►  In today's Washington Post -- How Democrats can avoid a midterm rout in 2010 (E.J. Dionne column) -- The midterm rule: No base, no victory. To escape a rout, Democrats must avoid going around in circles by constantly wondering if they should tack left or right. Steadiness in governing, a bit of tactical shrewdness and a little help from the Republicans may save them from the abyss.