PAGE 2 | May 3, 2019 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
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For working Washingtonians, a breakthrough session
From Page 1
TAX REFORM
Tax mansions more than starter
homes SB 5998 makes Washington
taxes a little less unequal by replacing
the state’s flat 1.28% tax on home sales
with a graduated tax instead: The real
estate sales tax rate will drop to 1.1
percent for regular people’s homes (up
to $500,000 sale price), then rise in
stages until it reaches 3 percent for
homes over $3 million. Incredibly, even
though four-fifths of home sales will
now be taxed at a lower rate, the tax
increase on purchases of high-end
properties by the well-to-do will result
in a net increase of about $150 million a
year to state coffers.
Bankers can afford to pay House Bill
2167 doubles the business-and-
occupation tax to 1.2 percent for large
financial institutions that have annual
profits of at least $1 billion.
Tuition-free higher education HB
2158 makes those who benefit the
most from higher education contribute
to make it affordable for the next
generation. It raises the business and
occupation tax by 20 percent on
architecture, engineering, legal,
insurance, financial, medical, telecom,
and software firms, and uses the
proceeds to make state college tuition
free for families making up to $50,000 a
year, and provide a state-sponsored
student loan program for middle-class
students above that. It also increases
salaries for community college faculty
who teach high-demand classes.
SOCIAL INSURANCE
Public-option health insurance SB
5526 creates a public health insurance
option known as Cascade Care that will
compete with private insurers on the
state's health Obamacare individual
insurance exchange. The state will hire
insurance companies to set up the
individual health insurance plans at
different coverage levels, with coverage
starting in 2021. A rate cap will limit the
amount Cascade Care pays health care
providers to 160 percent of the rate set
in federal Medicare plans.
First-in-the-nation longterm care
insurance HB 1087 sets up a long-
term care benefit program. Beginning in
2025, the program will provide
individuals up to $36,500 to pay for
services like in-home care, assisted
living, nursing home and respite care.
The benefit will be paid for by a 0.58
percent employee-paid payroll tax that
starts in 2022. That works out to about
$24 a month for a worker making
$50,000 a year. Workers become eligible
for the benefit once they’ve contributed
for five years.
WORKERS RIGHTS
Hospital worker rest and meal
breaks HB 1155 requires Washington
hospitals to provide uninterrupted meal
and rest breaks to nurses and medical
technicians. If a rest break is interrupted
because of an emergency, the worker
must be given another 10-minute
break. Unions have been trying to pass
this for 10 years. This year, the issue
went viral nationally when Washington
Republican Maureen Walsh spoke
against it in the senate floor, saying
nurses “probably play cards for a
considerable amount of the day.” More
than 770,000 people signed an online
petition calling on Walsh to walk
alongside a nurse for a 12-hour shift.
Crack down on noncompete
agreements Employers have
increasingly been requiring workers to
sign pledges agreeing not to go to work
for competitors. SB 5478 prohibits such
“non-compete agreements” for workers
making less than $100,000, bars their
use in cases where an employee is laid
off, limits them in all cases to no more
than 18 months, and prohibits franchise
chains from restricting franchisees from
hiring other franchisees' employees.
Protect hotel housekeepers and
other solo workers from sexual
assault SB 5258 aims to prevent sexual
harassment and assault of hotel, retail,
behavioral health, and custodial
employees who work alone. It requires
their employers to adopt sexual
harassment policies, conduct sexual
harassment training, and provide panic
buttons to enable solo workers to call for
help.
Refinery safety HB 1817 requires
petroleum refineries to use a skilled and
trained workforce: All workers must be
either registered apprentices or skilled
journeypersons. And workers at high-
hazard facilities must be given advanced
safety training by Jan. 1, 2022.
JOBS
Transition to clean energy SB 5116,
backed by the Washington State Labor
Council, requires Washington electric
utilities to phase out coal by 2025 and
use 100 percent clean energy by 2045.
Tax incentives to speed that along are
tied to labor standards like prevailing
wage, apprenticeship utilization, and
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