Minimum Wage Victories
April 15 marked the deadline for the House and Senate to approve policy bills from the other chamber. It also signaled the start of the battle to pass a new two-year operating budget and a 16-year transportation revenue and spending plan.
Three priority bills NFIB opposed died at that deadline:
- House Bill 1355 – $12 minimum wage increase
- House Bill 1356 – Paid leave mandate
- House Bill 1646 – “Equal pay act”
NFIB testified against the bills before the Senate Commerce & Labor Committee. We presented an NFIB Research Foundation study showing the minimum wage bill could cost as many as 16,000 jobs in the coming decade. Several members provided written testimony, and contacted committee chair Sen. Michael Baumgartner asking him to kill the bills. Thanks to your efforts, the bills died without a committee vote.
Health Care Transparency
NFIB was successful in winning House approval of our priority health-care transparency bill the day before cut-off, thanks to state Reps. Eileen Cody and Paul Harris. Cody’s striking amendment corrected numerous flaws in the Senate-passed version of Senate Bill 5084. Thanks to the bipartisan leadership of these two, and support from the NFIB-led Coalition for Healthcare Cost Transparency, the bill passed 82 to 15 with one excused. The bill now returns to the Senate, where NFIB and its coalition partners are requesting a swift concurrence vote.
Operating and Transportation Budgets
Attention has since turned to dueling House and Senate operating and transportation budget proposals.
The House budget would eliminate the state expenditure cap, and boost state spending by $10 billion over six years. That plan relies on roughly $1.5 billion in new and increased taxes, including reinstating the 20 percent B&O tax surcharge on service businesses. The tax plan would also increase the small-business tax credit, effectively exempting the first $100,000 of service business earnings. The House did not include Gov. Jay Inslee’s cap-and-trade-bill, which is now dead. NFIB opposes the House budget and B&O tax increase.
The Senate budget would not increase taxes. Instead, it would send I-1351, the class-size initiative that narrowly passed last November, back to voters for reconsideration. It would also give teachers and other state employees a flat $2,000 pay increase, rather than approve the contracts their unions negotiated with the governor. Democrats quickly assailed the Republicans for banking too much on marijuana sales and fund transfers to balance the books, and not spending enough to meet Supreme Court mandates for additional education and mental health spending. NFIB supports the Senate budget bill.
Earlier this session, the state Senate approved a massive gas tax and fee hike to finance an ambitious 16-year transportation spending plan. The centerpiece of the revenue package is an 11.7¢ per gallon gas tax increase phased in over three years. NFIB opposes this tax and fee increase proposal. A separate “reform” package of bills accompanied the Senate gas tax bill.
The House Transportation Committee on April 14 passed the 11.7¢ per gallon gas tax increase. The panel has also approved watered-down versions of the reform package. Not surprisingly, the House committee stripped so-called “poison pills” from the Senate tax bill that would redirect certain funds from transit and other multi-modal projects if Governor Inslee proceeds with his plan to implement a costly low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) by executive order. NFIB is a leading critic of Inslee’s LCFS scheme, and has launched another round of radio and online ads opposing it. (For more information and to view the ads, visit NoNewEnergyTaxes.org.) NFIB is one of the only business groups opposing the Senate and House gas tax measures.
Sincerely,
Patrick Connor, NFIB Washington State Director
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