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Workers' Comp Reform: Part 1 Down, Part 2 To Go

Yesterday Governor Gregoire signed SB 5801 into law: “We know we need to help more workers return to good health and back on the job after an injury, as well as reduce costs for our taxpayers and businesses,” Gregoire said. “This bill does both. It improves outcomes for our employees, while saving more than $200 […]

Workers' Compensation Needs Fixing

The News Tribune has a good editorial today on workers’ compensation.  It questions opposition to the reform bill (ESB 5566) that passed the Senate.  Specifically, it questions opposition to the provision that would allow injured workers to choose a voluntary settlement instead of a pension. There’s not much controversy over the subsidy part of the […]

Editorial support for bipartisan Senate workers' compensation bill…

The Senate passed ESB 5566 last weekend, a good workers’ compensation bill that will move Washington closer to the national mainstream, benefiting both injured workers and employers. The Washington Research Council last year published Mainstreaming Workers’ Compensation: Reforms for 2010. The bill refines several of our recommendations and represents a major step forward for the […]

New Policy Brief: Time to Fix Workers' Compensation

We have a new policy brief today on workers’ compensation reform. As Dick noted earlier, the compromise bill that passed the Senate over the weekend would move us closer to the national mainstream, and the WRC has made similar recommendations in the past. Reforms like the ones in the compromise bill would help reduce the […]

Some Choice in Workers' Comp

On Saturday, the state Senate passed ESB 5566, which makes reforms to the workers’ compensation system.  Among other changes, the bill would allow injured workers to choose a voluntary settlement agreement instead of taking a permanent pension. Such permanent pensions are a drain on the system.  As part of the governor’s workers’ compensation reform proposals […]

Understating Public Pension Shortfalls

The Washington Post reports that while official figures put state and local public pension shortfalls at $344 billion, some economists estimate the underfunding is more in the ballpark of $1.9 trillion. The discrepancy occurs because of what the article calls the "government method of accounting."  Most states, including Washington, use the actuarial method of accounting in […]

Unemployment insurance compromise tough to replicate for workers' comp reform

In the Puget Sound Business Journal today, my column examines the 2011 legislative session’s big accomplishment so far: an agreement on unemployment insurance that drew overwhelming bipartisan support. It’s a good deal, providing tax relief to 90 percent of the state’s employers and increasing benefits for 70,000 unemployed workers. Conditions aligned for this to be […]

Washington's UI Trust Fund

Stateline.org has more today on unemployment insurance — specifically that for many states interest payments on federal loans are coming due.  Washington is not one of them; in fact, our unemployment insurance trust fund is the healthiest in the country. So we’ve got that going for us, which is nice.

Pension reforms moving forward in Olympia

Bert Caldwell does a nice job in the Spokesman-Review of catching up on the move to assure full funding of state pensions. Washington state Treasurer James McIntire last week followed through on a pledge made last fall: He and a bipartisan group of sponsors submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to the Legislature that would assure […]

Governor scheduled to sign UI bills this afternoon

A week of anticipation culminated in a welcome compromise on unemployment insurance legislation. The state Senate this morning concurred with the House, passing EHB 1091 (41 yea, 4 nay, 3 excused). The Wednesday, the House passed the measure, which provides permanent unemployment insurance tax relief to a reported 90 percent of employers and temporary extension […]