“Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.” Nelson Mandela
“Time spent arguing is, oddly enough, almost never wasted.” Christopher Hitchens
As the Legislature approaches cut-off deadlines, action and debates are taking place in committees on the respective floors of each house as legislators act to move proposals.
A brief summary of selected bills:
Retirement Related Proposals
HB 1985: Providing a benefit increase to certain retirees of the public employees' retirement system plan 1 and the teachers' retirement system plan 1.
Comment: This bill would provide an ad-hoc 3% increase in 2024, not to exceed $125/month for TRS1/PERS1 Plan retirees.
The House Committee on Appropriations has scheduled an executive session for 1/25. Rumor has it that a substitute bill may be offered that rolls the increase back to $110/month, which is identical to the bill and funding provided last session. A reminder that the $110 figure had a $44,000 pension cap; the $125 increases it to $50,000. Those figures represent a person’s income that would qualify for a property tax exemption.
HB 2013: Paying state retirement benefits until the end of the month in which the retiree or beneficiary dies.
Comment: This bill allows the survivor to keep the entire month’s amount regardless of when the person died.
The House Committee on Appropriations has scheduled an executive session for 1/25. Rumor has it that an alternative bill will be dropped that would address the health insurance premium due on the month of death.
HB 2481: Waiving health benefit premiums in the public employees' benefits board.
Comment: This is a late entry into Introductions. It is intended to replace HB 2013 mentioned above. It would waive, as the title suggests, the health benefit premium during the month of one’s death. It has yet to be scheduled for a public hearing
Other Areas of Potential Fiscal Impact (and often unfunded) to Districts
Below are titles and a brief summary of proposed bills that may have potential impact to the business operations of districts.
SHB 1105: Requiring public agencies to provide notice for public comment that includes the last date by which such public comment must be submitted.
Comment: This bill mandates a public agency that is required to solicit public comment for a statutorily specified period of time and to provide notice that it is soliciting public comment, to include in the notice the last day by which written public comment may be submitted. • Makes an agency that violates the requirement to include in a notice for public comment the last day by which written comment may be submitted subject to a civil penalty of $500 for the first violation and $1000 for any subsequent violation.
It is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on State Government & Elections on 1/30.
HB 1905 - Including protected classes in the Washington equal pay and opportunities act.
Comment: Amends the Equal Pay and Opportunities Act to prohibit an employer from discriminating in compensation and career advancement opportunities against similarly employed employees based on the employee's age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, honorably discharged veteran or military status, or the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability.
This bill is scheduled for Executive Action on 1/19 in the House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards. Its companion, SB 5894, has not moved since its public hearing on 1/15.
HB 1927: Reducing the number of days that a worker's temporary total disability must continue to receive industrial insurance compensation for the day of an injury and the three-day period following the injury.
Comment: It reduces the number of days – from 14 to 7 – that a temporary total disability must continue to receive workers' compensation time loss benefits for the first three days following the injury.
It is currently in House Rules and awaits movement to the floor calendar. Its companion, (SB5932) has not had any movement and is likely ‘dead’.
HB 1959: Extending parts of the paid family and medical leave program to employers with fewer than 50 employees.
Comment: This bill removes the exemption allowing employers with fewer than 50 employees to not pay any portion of the premium for the Paid Family and Medical Leave Program, thereby requiring those employers to pay at least 55 percent of the medical leave share of the premium.
It is scheduled for executive session in the House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards on 1/26.
HB 2058: Increasing student access to free meals served at public schools.
Comment: TWIO has covered this previously. There is no fiscal note to date, although press reports that the state’s cost will be in excess of $80 million dollars. It is indeterminate what other local school district unfunded costs will be.
This bill was moved to Appropriations and is awaiting scheduling. The companion bill, (SB 5964) is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education on 1/29.
HB 2127 - 2023-24: Concerning workers' compensation incentives to return to work.
Comment: Modifies certain return-to-work policies and reimbursement amounts under the workers' compensation program. • Increases the maximum amounts of reimbursements paid to employers participating in the Stay at Work Program and Preferred Worker Program by the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). • Increases the maximum amount paid to qualifying employers for job modification costs by L&I.
This bill is scheduled for Executive Session in the House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards Jan. 24th.
SB 5059 - Concerning pre-judgment interest.
Comment: Dan Steele has already addressed this bill and its potential for adversely affecting school district finances.
It had a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means at 4:00 PM, Jan. 15th. No further action to date.
2SHB 1618: Concerning the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse.
Comment: Again, this has been addressed in previous reports, and the potential to create economic havoc within districts remains. It removes the statute of limitations for recovery of damages as a result of childhood sexual abuse. • • Applies the act retroactively and prospectively.
The Rules Committee relieved of further consideration. Placed on third reading waiting action on House floor.
SB 5777 - Concerning unemployment insurance benefits for striking or lockout workers.
Comment: Deletes a provision that disqualifies employees in a multi-employer bargaining unit from unemployment insurance benefits when the employees have been locked out following a strike against the employers in the bargaining unit.
This bill has been passed to Rules awaiting movement to the Senate calendar. Its companion (HB 1893) is scheduled for executive session in the House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards on 1/26.
SB 5793 - Concerning paid sick leave.
Comment: Allows an employee or transportation network company driver to use paid sick leave when their child's school or place of care is closed due to a public emergency. • Modifies the definition of family member for the purpose of using paid sick leave to include any individual who regularly resides in the employee's home or where the relationship creates an expectation the employee care for the person and that individual depends on the employee for care, except it does not include an individual who simply resides in the same home with no expectation the employee care for the individual. • • Provides that a child also includes a child's spouse. Requires the Department of Labor and Industries to develop materials and conduct outreach to inform individuals and businesses about the new provisions of the act.
It was moved out of Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce on 1/22 and assumed to go to Appropriations. Its companion, (HB 1991) scheduled for executive session in the House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards on 1/26.
SB 5824: Concerning the dissolution of libraries and library districts.
Comment: This bill increases the signature threshold for filing petitions to dissolve libraries or library districts from 100 taxpayers to 35 percent of eligible voters in the district. • Expands voter eligibility to allow all qualified electors of a library district to participate in a vote on propositions for library district dissolution.
It is on the second awaiting action on the floor calendar.
SB 5873 - 2023-24
Providing adequate and predictable student transportation.
Comment: This bill, subject to budget appropriations, increases funding for student transportation. Of added import is that it provides that pupil transportation services contracts entered into, renewed, or extended after September 1, 2024, must require the contractor to provide employee health and retirement benefits comparable to those received by school employees. It also states: “Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this purpose, OSPI must provide a one-time supplemental transportation allocation to school districts that experience an increase in costs to pupil transportation services contracts due to the new benefit requirements. To be eligible for the supplemental allocations, a school district must report to OSPI regarding the number of contracted employees who worked at least 630 hours performing contract services in the school year prior to entering a contract with the new benefits. Supplemental allocations may only be used as payments under pupil transportation services contracts for employee compensation and may not exceed $200 per contracted employee per month.”
This bill had a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means Committee on 1/23 and is awaiting further action.
SB 5883: Concerning the burden of proof for special education due process hearings.
Comment. This bill provides that a school district has the burden of proof when it is a party to a special education due process hearing. • Creates an exception to this burden of proof requirement in circumstances when a parent seeks reimbursement for a unilateral parental placement.
It is currently on the second reading awaiting floor action.
SB 5924 - 2023-24 Concerning access to personnel records.
Concerning access to personnel records.
Comment: Executive actions taken on 1/23 by the Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce. No further movement to date.
SB 5978: Authorizing the office of the superintendent of public instruction to act as a guarantor for a county when the county provides a loan to a school district.
Comment: A public hearing in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education was held on 1/22. No further action to date.
SB 6045 - Concerning school district efficiencies and consolidation.
Comment: Self-explanatory. This is not the first time this idea of forcing efficiencies has been introduced.
It is scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education on 1/25.
SB 6223: Updating school district director compensation.
Comment: Each member of the board of directors of a school district may receive compensation in an annual amount not to exceed the combined total of $500 per month plus 50 cents per student enrolled in the school district based on prior year actual enrollments.
It is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education on 1/29.
Fred Yancey
The Nexus Group LLC