Employers finally garner UI, workers’ comp tax relief in contentious 133-day session
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After last fall’s passage of Initiative 1053, requiring a supermajority of the Legislature to approve to raise taxes, lawmakers had little choice this year but to balance the budget without new taxes. But that doesn’t mean they liked it.
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A look at the Roadkill Caucus, a loose-knit group of Democrats who broke with their party on workers’ compensation reform, and their historical predecessors from the 1960s, the ‘unholy alliance.’
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Even though all eyes seemed to be on the budget this year, this was actually a highly active year for education policy. Several themes emerged, including increasing innovation in the classrooms, streamlining bureaucracy and easing higher education tuition restrictions. While several positive bills u...
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When it came to environmental issues, this year’s regular and special legislative sessions were really more about missed opportunities than anything else. Last summer, and heading into the legislative session, Gov. Gregoire engaged a wide range of stakeholders, including AWB, to participate in her “...
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Cost-saving reforms to our state’s unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation systems became defining bipartisan achievements of the 2011 Legislature. In unemployment insurance, two significant pieces of legislation passed, Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1091 and Senate Bill 5135, together pr...
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The 2011 session was dramatically different for business than in 2010, when lawmakers passed a $6.7 billion tax increase over a 10-year period. The new tone was set early when voters overwhelmingly supported Initiative 1053, requiring a two-thirds majority vote to raise taxes. Voters also rejected I...
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While high-profile issues such as the state operating budget, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance took the main stage during this legislative session, several key pieces of legislation moved forward affecting health care delivery in our state. Always a front-runner, Washington joined ju...
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Legislators continue to face significant challenges with transportation funding and infrastructure, with fewer dollars coming in to pay for needed maintenance and improvements. Higher efficiency fuels, hybrid vehicles and increased carpooling due to the high cost of gas further eroded revenue from t...
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The 2011 Voting Record is one of several tools AWB members can use to evaluate how lawmakers responded to bills affecting the state's business community this session.
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