October 7, 2016
CapitalPress.com
7
Washington
Washington pay loor to rise to at least $9.53
Ballot measure calls
for $11 wage on Jan. 1
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The Washington Depart-
ment of Labor and Industries
announced Wednesday that
the state’s minimum wage
will increase by 6 cents an
hour to $9.53 on Jan. 1, unless
voters pass a measure to push
the pay loor to the highest
among the 50 states.
After two years at $9.47 an
hour because of low inlation,
Washington’s minimum wage
will rise to relect a 0.7 per-
cent increase in the consumer
price index for urban wage
earners, according to L&I. An
initiative voters approved in
1998 requires annual adjust-
ments for inlation.
The hike will make Wash-
ington’s minimum wage the
eighth highest among the 50
states, according to the U.S.
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Workers pick corn in Washington state. The Department of Labor and Industries announced Sept. 28
that the state’s minimum wage will increase to $9.53 an hour Jan. 1. The wage would go to $11 an
hour if Initiative 1433 passes.
Department of Labor.
Washington’s minimum
wage would tie for highest if
Initiative 1433 passes in No-
vember.
The measure calls for rais-
ing the wage to $11 on Jan. 1,
the same day Massachusetts
will raise its current $10 pay
loor by $1.
Under I-1433, Washing-
ton’s wage would increase an-
nually until it reaches $13.50
in 2020.
Automatic adjustments for
inlation would then resume.
I-1433 would not prevent
cities from adopting higher
minimum wages, as has Seat-
tle, Tacoma and SeaTac.
I-1433 would also mandate
that employers provide paid
family leave. Accrued beneits
would carry over from year to
year for seasonal workers.
As of Wednesday, the ini-
tiative’s campaign committee,
Raise Up Wa, had reported
raising $3.5 million, including
$1 million from Seattle ven-
ture capitalist Nick Hanauer,
according to the Public Dis-
closure Committee.
The No on I-1433 com-
mittee had reported raising
$53,646, including $5,000
from the Washington Farm
Bureau.
The Farm Bureau main-
tains that state and local
minimum wages higher than
the federal minimum wage,
currently $7.25 an hour, put
producers in those areas at
a disadvantage against their
competitors elsewhere.
The trend nationwide has
been for states to adopt high-
er minimum wages and more
complex rate schedules.
The Oregon Legislature
this year adopted a three-tier
approach.
As of July 1, the minimum
wage rose to $9.50 in 18 rural
counties, and $9.75 in three
Portland Metro counties and
the state’s other 15 counties.
By mid-2020, the rural
wage will be $12.50, the Port-
land area wage $14.75 and
the so-called “standard wage”
for everywhere else will be
$13.50.
After that, the standard
wage will be adjusted annual-
ly for inlation. The rural wage
will then be set at $1 less than
the standard wage, while the
Portland wage will be $1.25
more than the standard wage.
California’s
minimum
wage will increase on Jan. 1 to
$10.50 from $10.
The wage will gradually
rise to $15 in 2022 for busi-
nesses with more than 25
workers and in 2023 for busi-
nesses with fewer. The wages
will then be adjusted for inla-
tion.
Idaho has adopted the fed-
eral minimum wage as its state
minimum wage.
Twenty-nine states and
the District of Columbia have
minimum wages higher than
the federal pay loor, according
to the National Conference of
State Legislatures.
Wash. Farm Bureau, others sue to overturn carbon cap
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Energy companies and
business groups, including
the Washington Farm Bureau,
are suing to overturn Gov. Jay
Inslee’s carbon cap, claiming
the governor has exceeded
his authority and imposed a
climate-change policy that vi-
olates state and federal consti-
tutions and will actually harm
the environment.
Separate lawsuits were
iled Tuesday in Thurston
County Superior Court and
U.S. District Court in Spo-
kane. Both suits seek to stop
the Washington Department
of Ecology from implement-
ing the Clear Air Rule, the
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Steam rises from the KapStone Kraft Paper Corp. in Longview,
Wash. The Northwest Pulp and Paper Association and several oth-
er business groups, including the Washington Farm Bureau, iled
a lawsuit Sept. 27 in Thurston County Superior Court to overturn
Gov. Jay Inslee’s carbon cap.
name the Inslee administra-
tion has given the carbon cap.
The rule is scheduled to
go into effect Oct. 17 and will
require dozens of plants, oil
reineries and natural gas dis-
tributors to gradually cut their
carbon emissions or invest
in carbon-reduction projects
elsewhere in Washington.
The carbon cap will in-
crease fuel prices and the cost
of agricultural production, ac-
cording to the Farm Bureau.
Inslee ordered Ecology to
develop the rule, citing his
authority under the Washing-
ton Clean Air Act and a 2008
law that directs the state to cut
greenhouse gases to half of
1990’s level by 2050.
The lawsuits challenge the
governor’s authority and ar-
gue that the rule is poor envi-
ronmental policy.
Capping carbon in Wash-
ington will shift manufactur-
ing and electricity generation
to other countries and states
that rely more on coal-ired
power plants, according to the
lawsuits.
Ecology failed to look
at the global implications
of its policy, said Brandon
Housekeeper, director of
governmental affairs on en-
vironmental issues for the
Association of Washington
Business, which is lead-
ing the lawsuit in Thurston
County.
Ecology has required pri-
vate-sector proposals, such
as a coal export terminal in
Longview, to evaluate their
impact on greenhouse gases
worldwide, not just in Wash-
ington, he said.
“In a nutshell, they really
oversimpliied their environ-
mental evaluation of a com-
plex rule,” Housekeeper said.
“They didn’t even meet their
own test. It’s just an incom-
plete analysis.”
The other plaintiffs in the
state court lawsuit include the
Farm Bureau and the North-
west Food Processors Asso-
ciation.
Avista Corp., Cascade Nat-
ural Gas, Northwest Natural
Gas and Puget Sound Energy
iled suit in federal court.
The carbon cap will raise
the cost of producing elec-
tricity and encourage Puget
Sound Energy to shift away
from natural-gas plants in
Washington and toward coal
plants in other states, accord-
ing to the lawsuit.
Ecology issued a statement
defending the rule.
“When we adopted the
Clean Air Rule we joined Cal-
ifornia and nine other states in
the Northeast to do our part to
reduce greenhouse gas emis-
sions. We’re currently evalu-
ating the legal challenge and
will continue our work to im-
plement the Clean Air Rule,”
according to Ecology.
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