Military families might soon find it a little easier to add a second income when they transfer to Washington state.
On the last day of their emergency budget session Wednesday, state lawmakers fast-tracked a plan to help military spouses transfer their professional credentials from other states.
“This is an opportunity to make a difference for those families … so they can draw a paycheck rather than an unemployment check,” said state Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor.
He said a soldier newly stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord approached him with the idea at a Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce event.
The bill is similar to what Kilmer proposed and the Legislature approved last winter for soldiers and other service members. That law counts military training toward licensing requirements.
The spouse measure passed the Senate and House unanimously on Wednesday. It applies to what the Pentagon says is more than 1,600 spouses who move into the state each year leaving behind a job they were licensed to do elsewhere – teachers, nurses, accountants, contractors, hair dressers and more.
If Gov. Chris Gregoire signs it as expected, those husbands and wives – 95 percent of military spouses are women – would receive a temporary license in Washington and a quicker path to a permanent license. Eleven states have similar laws, Kilmer said.
Surveys indicate 26 percent of military spouses are unemployed, said Mark San Souci, the U.S. Defense Department’s liaison to Northwest states.
There are more than 30,000 spouses of active-duty service members in Washington. Nearly one in seven has moved from another state in the past year, San Souci said – almost 14 times the moving rate of the general population.
It can take months to fulfill requirements for some new licenses, he said. “That, of course, is not helping with getting the two-income stream going.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Licensing in Gregoire’s administration said the agency supports the idea.
Kilmer was joined by Rep. Tami Green, a Lakewood Democrat, in taking the lead on the measure in the Legislature.
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