WSIA Week 8 Legislative Update (3/3/17)
Here’s a quick update on where things stand on our issues in the legislative session. We are in the midst of daylong floor activity in both the House and the Senate, as both chambers work toward next Wednesday (March 8th) deadline by which bills must pass out of their house of origin to be considered still alive in the process. The latest:
- Employer community reform bill. Senate Bill 5822 was pulled from the Senate Rules Committee to the Senate floor, where it is eligible for a floor vote. However, this is far from guaranteed. The bill was introduced with 23 sponsors out of the 25 person Senate majority caucus. The two Senators who declined to sponsor the bill are also expressing great concerns over voting for the bill.
- Hanford workers. HB 1723, which would
establish a very broad and very strong legal presumption of occupational
disease for workers of contractors or subcontractors on the Hanford
nuclear site, passed the House last night with a 69-29 vote, demonstrating
a fair amount of bipartisan support for the measure. The vote followed an emotional
series of floor speeches by the prime sponsors of the bill. It moves on to
the Senate for potential consideration and action next, where its future
is more cloudy. I think it’s fair to say that if this bill were to become
law in its present form, it would enact the most stringent occupational
disease presumption in any workers’ compensation system anywhere.
- Fire/police stress occ
disease.
This bill, HB 1655, which excludes police and fire from the general rule
that stress-based psych claims can’t be adjudicated as occupational
diseases, also appears primed to pass the House before the 3/8 deadline,
possibly as soon as today. It has been amended to drop an occupational
disease presumption of PTSD, but it continues to direct ordinary allowance
of stress occ disease claims for police and fire personnel. Assuming it
passes the House, it faces a steeper climb in the Senate, which has
already killed a different police/fire presumption expansion.
- Other matters moving. The Department of Labor & Industries’ two primary bills, extending the reassumption timeline for settlement talks in WISHA appeals (HB 1629) and increasing WISHA penalties to conform to OSHA levels (HB 1953) continue to move along. A bill supported by State Fund retro groups to get notice of third party settlement talks also continues to move (HB 1755/SB 5670).
Look forward to next Friday’s update to see where things stand once the dust of the 3/8 cutoff deadline settles.