“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.
<a href=”http://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5777
