BUSINESS, LABOR & CONSUMER
THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Bigger unemployment checks: Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law HB 1906, which will raise the minimum weekly benefit check to $200 and boost other payments by $45 a week across the board. Takes effect May 3.
Union management: SB 5446 and HB 1528 are the so-called “Worker Privacy Act” measures that would have allowed workers to walk out of company meetings that required them to listen to anti-union stuff, charitable payroll deductions, etc. House and Senate leaders killed the bills after they received threats by organized labor to withhold campaign contributions if the bills did not advance. The State Patrol is investigating the threats as a possible criminal violation.
Boeing tax breaks: SB 6117 is a blank bill that serves as a placeholder for whatever inducements the state may offer to encourage the company to assemble the next line of 787s in Washington. A late-session measure.
Jobs tax credit: SB 5899 would let businesses with 10 or fewer workers subtract $2,000 to $4,000 from their state business taxes for every new job they create whose salary and benefits combined are at least 50 percent higher than the state minimum wage. Senate passed, 46-0.
Asbestos lawsuits: SB 5964 would have overturned a state Supreme Court decision from December and made more companies liable for injuries if asbestos were made a part of their product. Killed by Senate Democrats after lawyers lobbying for the bill paid for full-page newspaper ads attacking some of the senators for allegedly holding up passage of the bill.
Unemployment: SB 5963 would limit the list of valid reasons for quitting a job to 12, such as being stalked by an ex-spouse, and readjust the rates paid into the unemployment insurance trust fund by seasonal and year-round employers. Senate passed, 38-11.
Day-care unions: HB 1329 would let operators and employees of child-care centers form a union to bargain with the state for pay and benefits if at least one child at the center is state-subsidized. The KinderCares chain, YMCAs and others with 10 or more centers, as well as government- or tribal-run centers, are exempt. House passed, 65-31.
Tattoos, piercings: SB 5391 would require tattoo and body-piercing artists to be licensed by the state by July 1, 2010. Senate passed, 47-1. House has passed HB 1085, a slightly different version, on a 96-1 vote.
Consumer protection: SB 5531 would give judges the discretion to award as much as $50,000 in damages to private parties and local governments who sue and win using the state Consumer Protection Act. Senate passed, 28-17.
Payday loans: HB 1709 would allow borrowers to take out a total of no more than $700 in loans, altogether, or 30 percent of their monthly pay, whichever is less. House passed, 94-0.
Car sales fee: HB 1939 would triple the maximum document fee that auto dealers could charge customers for processing sales paperwork – to $150 – until July 2014, when it would revert to the current $50 fee. House passed, 73-22.
Newspaper tax break: HB 2122 would lower the state business and occupation tax rate for newspaper and printing companies by 43 percent, making their rate the same as it is for The Boeing Co., Weyerhaeuser and Microsoft, lowering their taxes (and state tax collections) by an estimated $3 million over the next two years. House passed, 91-5.
