PAGE 6 | July 17, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Washington Legislature budget battle nearly closes state government
OLYMPIA, Wash.—Ending a
months-long standoff that came
within a day of shutting down
state government, the Washing-
ton Legislature passed a two-
year budget June 29 that in-
creases funding for schools and
colleges, raises gas taxes to pay
for transportation investments,
and gives schoolteachers and
state employees a raise for the
first time in seven years.
It took the regular session plus
three special sessions to finalize
the budget because of difficulty
reconciling the vision of the Re-
publican-led state Senate and the
Democratic-led state House. Re-
publicans proposed a budget of
$37.9 billion, and the Democrats
a budget of $38.4 billion. And
one of the differences was that
Senate Republicans didn’t want
to fund public employee raises
that Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee
had agreed to in collective bar-
gaining.
The final resolution came after
rolling one-day strikes by up to
40,000 teachers and a series of
lunch-time rallies by members of
Washington Federation of State
Employees (AFSCME Council
28). Public employee unions—
including Washington Federation
of State Employees, Teamsters
Local 117, Service Employees,
Professional & Technical Em-
ployees Local 17, HealthCare
1199NW, American Federation
of Teachers-Washington, and
Washington Public Employees
Association (United Food and
Commercial Workers Local
365)—waged a “Public Service
Matters” campaign combining
protest demonstrations with
newspaper and radio ads.
Ultimately, the two sides split
the difference with a $38.2 bil-
lion compromise budget. As part
of the deal, Democrats dropped
a proposal to institute a capital
gains tax, something 41 other
states have. Washington is un-
usual in that it has a sales tax and
property tax, but no income tax.
A union-backed coalition known
as Washington United for Fair
Revenue supported the capital
Who’s on our side?
By Tom Chamberlain Oregon AFL-CIO President
Legislature ends with mixed reviews
The 2015 Oregon Legislature has ended, but
with mixed reviews. Strong leadership from
Oregon’s House Speaker Tina Kotek ushered
through a package of bills to lift up low-wage
workers and address economic inequality.
Paid Sick Days: After passing a strong bill
last month, nearly half a million more Oregon
workers have access to paid sick time. No one
should have to choose between taking care of
their health, or the health of their family, and
keeping their job. This is an important step
forward. While we applaud legislation that
gives hundreds of thousands of workers ac-
cess to paid sick time, it comes at a cost. Sen-
ate leadership refused to pass a clean version
of Paid Sick Days, and passed a compromise
that includes a two-year ban on local govern-
ments enacting fair scheduling ordinances
that can provide stability and fairness to
workers. Such a decision by Senate leader-
ship ignores challenges of workers who must
juggle child care, transportation, or are work-
ing two jobs when work schedules can
change at a moment’s notice.
Retirement Security: This bill ensures
that every worker in Oregon can plan for a se-
cure retirement after a lifetime of work.
Workers now have access to a simple, easy
and effective way to save, because everyone
should be able to provide security for them-
selves and their families, regardless of where
they work.
Ban the Box: Qualified applicants with
prior convictions and arrests are regularly
shut out of jobs and not given a fair shot at
achieving employment. HB 3025 removes
from job applications any reference concern-
ing whether an applicant has been arrested or
incarcerated. This practice has long been used
to deny thousands of ex-offenders access to a
job interview trapping them in a cycle of un-
employment, low wage jobs and in some
cases a return to past behavior. Ban the Box
legislation is proven to significantly reduce
recidivism.
End Profiling: Profiling by law enforce-
ment happens in Oregon, whether it’s based
on race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, or
housing status, and there is no statewide sys-
tem for reporting. By passing this important
bill, law enforcement will be prohibited from
profiling, and a system to report unfair profil-
ing will be established, because people
shouldn’t live in fear and be targeted because
of their appearance, country of origin, or reli-
gion.
While the 2015 session provided victories
for low-wage workers, it failed to raise our
minimum wage that currently keeps hundreds
of thousands of workers under the federal
poverty level. It was a session where Ore-
gon’s Senate was an obstacle to passing
needed Oregon public employee collective
bargaining reform, allowing public employers
to unilaterally implement new programs and
practices mid-term of a collective bargaining
agreement without a fair process to raise con-
cerns. The Legislature failed to pass a crucial
transportation package that would have cre-
ated thousands of jobs by expanding and im-
proving Oregon’s aging infrastructure by re-
lieving congestion to increase the state’s
competiveness in world markets.
Despite the shortcomings, the 2015 session
was an example of the power of unions and
community coalitions. The Fair Shot for All
Coalition was instrumental in passing key
components of a workers’ agenda. Thank you
for all your efforts.
Tom Chamberlain is president of the Oregon AFL-CIO,
a 120,000-member-strong federation of labor unions.
gains tax proposal, and also
called on lawmakers to close
corporate tax loopholes. Legis-
lators did close a few of the
loopholes, including preferential
business sales tax rates for soft-
ware manufacturers, for royalty
income, and for out-of-state
wholesalers. But they extended
or adopted other tax breaks, in-
cluding one for oil refineries.
The compromise budget deal
also includes a transportation
funding package paid for with a
7-cent gas tax hike Aug. 1, fol-
lowed by a 4.9-cent hike on July
1, 2016. The increases will raise
$16 billion over 16 years to ex-
pand highways and pay for local
roads, ferries, maintenance,
safety, transit and trails. As part
of the compromise, Democrats
also dropped a low-carbon fuel
standard Inslee had campaigned
for. Environmental groups con-
demned the transportation pack-
age because of that.
The compromise budget
passed the Senate by a 39-9 vote.
Vancouver Republican Don
Benton was among those voting
against it, as was Republican
John Braun in the 20th District
(North of La Center).
State employees will get a 4.8
percent wage increase over the
next two years—the first general
wage increases for state employ-
ees in seven years—plus main-
tenance of health benefits. Re-
publican legislators earlier
threatened to cut health coverage
for state employees’ spouses.
The stand-off is not unlike the
one in 2013, when House De-
mocrats and Senate Republicans
fought through one-and-a-half
special sessions—and took Wash-
ington state government to the
same brink before reaching agree-
ment on June 27— three days be-
fore it would have shut down.
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