In his latest update from Olympia, NFIB/Washington State Director Patrick Connor reports on the flurry of legislative activity and where the small-business agenda is.
The House and Senate are expected to spend long hours on the floor leading up to a March 7 deadline to pass bills originating in the opposite chamber. Technically, this should include the supplemental budget, but the rules rarely seem to apply to budget bills these days.
The remainder of the session, slated to end March 13, will otherwise be devoted to smoothing out any differences between the chambers in the versions of bills they have both passed thus far.
Here’s a quick update of bills NFIB is still watching as this week’s deadline fast approaches.
Budget and Taxes
- House Bill 2201 would consolidate two similar tax preference reports into one streamlined document better allowing the Department of Revenue, Citizen’s Commission on Tax Preferences, various legislative committees, researchers, and, most importantly, the public to better evaluate the effectiveness of some of the largest tax breaks the state offers. Some big businesses oppose the bill, claiming it could violate their privacy. NFIB supports HB 2201 to make the tax preference reports easier for the public to understand and more relevant when weighing whether a special tax rate or exemption has actually resulted in the promised job creation and economic growth. For those publicly-traded firms objecting to the bill, we wonder how two-year-old data already provided to the federal Securities & Exchange Commission violates corporate privacy.
- House Bill 2493 and companion Senate Bill 6286 would allow nurseries to be classified as agriculture for property tax purposes, allowing them to be assessed at current use rather than highest or best use. NFIB is supporting the bills at the request of a member.
- The Senate has passed SB 6002, its supplemental budget proposal, with a strong bipartisan vote of 41 to 8. In an interesting twist, the House divided its budget proposal into three bills. Its basic supplemental budget is only about $5 million different than the Senate-passed bill. However, the House is also proposing two ancillary measures that would substantially boost education spending, but rely on tax increases and bonding future lottery revenue to achieve those goals. The Washington State Wire has an excellent article about the politics of the House budget package. NFIB is monitoring these budget bills. Given that the base bills are fairly similar in overall spending, we hope the two chambers will come to agreement in time to avoid yet another special session.
Environment
- House Bill 1224 and Senate Bill 6194 would allow four small counties, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, and Pend Oreille, that voluntarily opted into full planning under the state Growth Management Act to instead adopt limited planning requirements. These counties would still be required to designate natural resource lands, designate and protect critical areas, and use “best available science” in those efforts. The House version was approved 75 to 19; the Senate bill passed 47 to 0.
- House Bill 2261 and House Bill 2262 would require the departments of Fish & Wildlife and Ecology, respectively, to categorize information the agency relied upon, such as independent peer review, open review, legal and policy documents, or other sources of information, and publish those sources on its website when taking “significant agency actions.” The bills bring greater transparency to agency decision-making. Both passed the House 98-0.
Health Care
- House Bill 2572 is Gov. Jay Inslee’s health-care innovation bill. NFIB is primarily concerned with the all payer claims data base and health care quality measurement sections. Unfortunately, Senate Health Care Committee Chairwoman Sen. Randi Becker stripped those provisions when her panel approved the bill last week. NFIB’s strong objections earned mentions on TVW’s Legislative Review (segment starts at 10:27) and Capitol Record blog, as well as a Sunday article in the Spokesman-Review, which was reprinted in the Skagit Valley Herald and Yakima Herald-Republic. State Director Patrick Connor and Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler discussed the bill Monday on KOMO Newsradio. HB 2572 is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Ways & Means Committee where it could be exempted from the cut-off deadline as “necessary to implement the budget.”
- The House has passed an amended version of Senate Bill 6511, the second attempt in two years to streamline and simplify the prior authorization process used by health insurers. Premera, the state’s largest carrier, uses some 94 different forms that medical providers must sift through to get prior authorization for certain treatments and prescriptions. NFIB supports the bill with the ultimate goal of a single, one-page form used by all insurance carriers that could be submitted electronically so that small business owners and the families they support no longer have necessary medical treatment or medication denied or delayed due to unnecessary paperwork hurdles. A chiropractor association-supported amendment was added in the House that could scuttle the bill’s prospects in the Senate. NFIB will continue to work to get an agreed-upon bill to the governor for his signature.
Labor
Controversial labor bills, including those dealing with workers’ compensation, health and safety issues, independent contractors, and prevailing wage changes, died at the committee level last week. However, a few bills of interest are still in play.
- Senate Bill 6522 would clarify what personal information in workers’ compensation structured settlement agreements is subject to public disclosure. Basically, the bill seeks to address privacy concerns raised by attorneys and others, and help break the logjam that has so far rendered the structured settlement process a limited success. NFIB supports the bill.
- House Bill 2253 and Senate Bill 6206, along with House Bill 2254 and Senate Bill 6277, would make important technical corrections to laws governing telecom installations and technician licensing. The first three bills each received unanimous support in their chamber of origin. SB 6277 died March 3 when the Senate Rules Committee moved it to the “X file.” NFIB/Washington Leadership Council member Kerry Cox has spearheaded these successful industry efforts. NFIB is pleased to lend its support to these bills.
- NFIB is also monitoring two bills that threaten to adversely affect small contractors’ ability to perform public works projects. House Bill 2527 would set prevailing wages based on local collective bargaining agreements. This is effectively what happens in the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries’ prevailing wage surveys today, where union contractors disproportionately return the surveys compared to small contractors’ response rates. As a result, the “prevailing wage” tends to better reflect union scale than the average hourly rates and benefits paid by non-union contractors in a given county. House Bill 2618 would allow cities with populations of 20,000 or more to perform a larger portion of public works projects in-house, up to 10 percent of the city’s public works budget, rather than using the small works roster or going out to bid. These projects could be as much as $125,000 for multi-trade projects or $60,000 for single-trade jobs and street lighting or signal work. NFIB opposes both bills.
Regulatory Reform
- Companion bills House Bill 2192 and Senate Bill 6045 would require certain agencies to track permit timelines and post assistance information on its website. NFIB supports the bills.
Previous 2014 Legislative Report
