Leaders of the House Republican and Majority Coalition caucuses appear Wednesday at a news conference. Left to right, Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom, D-Bellevue, House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, Rep. J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm.
OLYMPIA, Jan. 31.—An expected vote on a package of business-backed workers’ comp bills was postponed in the Senate Wednesday as members of the Republican-dominated Majority Coalition Caucus sought Democratic votes for the measures. And while there was plenty of the usual partisan back-and-forth as the first big drama of the session was readied for center stage, and there was even a bit of an emphasis on a Democratic-Caucus press release, a more important question lay behind the sudden decision to delay the vote for 48 hours. What does labor want?
“I think hell no is the only option they have given us,” said Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville. “It’s not much of a negotiating position.”
The new governing coalition in the Senate hopes to renew debate this session on a topic that tied the Legislature in knots two years ago and prompted one of the hardest-fought business-versus-labor battles in recent memory. Starting in January 2012 the Washington Legislature allowed employers to settle claims with workers who are permanently disabled by on-the-job injuries, rather than awarding them costlier pensions. The hitch is that the new rules are so restrictive that only a handful of pensions have been awarded. A less-restrictive voluntary settlement option, like those permitted in 44 other states, would save big money for the state’s employers – perhaps nearly tripling long-term savings from settlements to $1.7 billion, if fiscal estimates produced two years ago are any guide. That might reduce pressure to raise what many employers argue is one of the most onerous taxes they face.
Labor is dead-set opposed. And in a Legislature where horsetrading is required to get anything done, business-minded lawmakers are wondering what it’s going to take — or even if labor will come to the table. Representatives of the state Labor Council and other labor organizations appeared before Sen. Janea Holmquist Newbry’s Commerce and Labor Committee last week, saying an expansion of the settlements is something they just can’t accept. “They have just kind of drawn a line in the sand,” said Holmquist Newbry, R-Moses Lake. “Based on the testimony I heard, it seems to me that no change is their preferred approach.”
Vote is Delayed
Sen. Janea Holmquist Newbry, R-Moses Lake, speaks at a news conference Wednesday sponsored by the National Federation of Independent Business.
The Senate was poised Wednesday morning to vote on a package of five bills that would change the way workers’ comp benefits are calculated and awarded, the first major pieces of legislation to be debated this session. But leaders of the Majority Coalition Caucus decided at the last moment to hold back in hopes of finding bipartisan support for the measures. The most important of the bills, SB 5128, essentially is a rewrite of a settlement bill that passed the Senate two years ago, allowing lump-sum settlements to be offered to all workers for both medical and disability claims. In that form the bill passed the Senate 34-15 in 2011, including 12 Democratic votes – but the final plan was considerably watered down in negotiations with the House. Schoesler said the Majority Coalition thinks the same bipartisan support can be found in the Senate this year. But not if the Senate rushes things.
“What I do know is that three minority caucus members put out a press release yesterday about how it was being rushed,” he said during a press availability with reporters Wednesday afternoon. “I’m sure you read their press releases. We listened. Workers’ comp is not a simple subject. Some people may vote for it if they actually have a briefing and hear opinions from both sides. We may not even need perfecting amendments. But we heard them, we read their press releases, and we’re doing just what they asked.”
The Senate now plans to take up the bills on Friday.
Labor Makes Statement
It’s not just about a press release, though. The point raised even by some in the business community is that it generally requires compromise to pass a bill in a divided Legislature, and labor ought to be sounded out. Certainly that is what happened in 2011. It is one of the reasons the final deal, negotiated with Speaker Frank Chopp’s more labor-minded House Democrats, limited settlements to workers 55 and older, required less-attractive “structured settlements” be used instead of lump sums, and stipulated that only disability claims might be settled, not medical claims. More importantly, the final bill contained a number of provisions labor wanted, including improvements to medical programs for injured workers.
For now, labor isn’t identifying anything it might want in return for an expanded settlement program.
In an email Wednesday, Kathy Cummings, spokeswoman for the Washington State Labor Council, says labor just can’t support the Senate bills. “These bills do nothing but undermine the safety net for injured workers by cutting their benefits. The reforms that were put into place last year are already saving the system money – they actually cut system costs by $1.5 billion and even more savings are expected to be captured over the coming years. Rates have not risen for employers or employees for 2 years in a row. There is absolutely no reason to cut worker benefits now as the savings from last year’s reforms are working and are promising even more savings in the years to come.”
A Most Interesting Press Release
If it was just a matter of a press release, it would probably be the most effective pronouncement ever to emerge from any of the Legislature’s caucus communications offices, and certainly Schoesler’s shout-out would be a big resume-builder for anyone on the Senate Democratic Communications staff who had a hand in it. The release was headed, “Democrats Call Republicans on Pushing Risky Worker Comp Bills,” and it called the rush to a vote Wednesday by the Majority Caucus a “dramatic contrast to their promises of collaboration and bipartisanship.” It quoted three members, state Sens. Karen Keiser, D-Kent; Steve Conway, D-Tacoma; and Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle. The best line was attributed to Conway: “When we requested the opportunity to ask about the likely impacts on the state Department of Labor and Industries, which administers the system, we got the bum’s rush.”
The Department of Labor and Industries has yet to produce fiscal estimates for savings that might accrue if the five bills are passed.
Keiser, a former spokeswoman for the state Labor Council and one of its staunchest allies in the Legislature, said she was amused to think the press release did the trick. “That is wonderful,” she said. “I am glad they are so responsive. I want to put out a new news release and say they should put those awful bills in the trash can, and maybe they will follow suit. I’m sure it will have an impact. I am glad that I am so influential.”
But on a more serious note, she said there is plenty of ground to cover before this session’s worker-comp debate is done, and you just can’t expect all the players to show their cards at this point. “There’s always room for compromise,” she said. “I don’t know how this is going to play out for the next three months, but it is not going to go away. Everybody knows that. You don’t compromise when you are jamming people, and that’s what this was. But from the looks of today – I’m just not sure.”
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