Bill Johnson

Simpson Investment Company
President, WSIA

Given the current state of the economy, we’re glad that nearly 300 people were able to attend the Annual Conference.  We know that in these challenging times, constrained budgets and increasing claims loads are making everyone do more with less.  That’s what the theme of the Annual Conference was about: tools of the trade and best practices in tough economic times; how to make good use of the tools and resources we have available to reduce our claims costs.

The knowledge and expertise of our employer members were the focus of all of the presentations at the Conference.  In fact, the last presentation was really a great opportunity to share our member organization’s best practices.  We need to share our best, most effective practices with each other to ensure that self-insurance remains a conservative, viable alternative in Washington for years to come.

While our individual organizations are doing their best to face the current economic reality, so is our Association.  WSIA has been and will continue to explore new ways to provide you the effective representation and education you need in your jobs, in as cost-effective a manner as possible.  In anticipation of this challenging time, WSIA has done a good job of building up our financial reserves to carry us in the event of unexpected changes.  Thankfully we’ve not had to tap this reserve to any great degree, but may have to do so in the near future.

We’ve worked hard to keep our dues at the same level for this next year, and are even reducing additional attendee rates at our conferences as well.  And we’ll be reducing the price of our archived (recorded) webinars to help reduce your training costs.

The most important thing you can do to help your Association is to maintain your membership, and to encourage other self-insured employers to join or maintain their membership.  We are a strong association because we have common goals and common interests, and we understand the importance of investing in our collective future.

Cutting membership dues may be a short-term savings, but has serious cost consequences in the long-run.  For example, where would we be if we didn’t have people lobbying on our behalf in Olympia or with the Department of Labor & Industries?  What would our claims costs be like without the training programs that have been developed and improved to ensure our compliance with the most current legal and rule changes?  A unified voice is the most important thing we possess.  Whatever cost saving decisions you make, please fight to ensure your organization’s voice will be heard in Olympia.

Collectively, we need to acknowledge the work of the dozens of volunteers who have committed to keeping WSIA a top-notch and effective association.  Whether on our Legislative, Program, Legal, Membership & Marketing, Amicus, Industrial Insurance University or other special committees, or in helping as instructors or facilitators for our training programs, these people’s talent, time and expertise ensures WSIA’s services are of the highest quality we can provide.

I want to particularly note the volunteer efforts of our Board of Directors.  Their leadership and active participation is what guides the Association, and their support has helped make my term as President of WSIA an enjoyable one.

I’m proud to have served as your President for the past year.  I’m particularly proud of our efforts to fight for changes in the rules governing Claims Administrator Certification (both the testing and Continuing Education Credits), to educate the membership about Medicare Reporting, and our fight against the increased scope of the 2008 Pay During Appeal legislation to protests.  There are too many others to note here, but know that our efforts on your behalf will continue long into the future.

Bill Johnson

Simpson Investment Company

WSIA President

Updated 6 May 2009

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