Personnel & Labor Relations

Presumptive Disease for Firefighters (HB 1833, SB 5741)

HB 1833 and SB 5741 regarding presumptive disease for firefighters have been scheduled for hearings on Thursday, February 15. HB 1833 will be heard by the House Commerce and Labor Committee at 8 am, and the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research & Development Committee will hear SB 5741 at 3:30 pm.

We have grave concerns with this legislation, which adds new diseases and conditions that would be presumed to be occupational illnesses for firefighters, changes the standard of proof required to rebut the presumption, and increases employer costs during appeals. (See last week’s Bulletin for more information.)

We are in the process of conducting a legal review of this broad expansion of the workers’ compensation statutes and can expect the changes to result in a substantial increase in workers’ compensation costs.

Please contact your legislators who serve on the House Commerce & Labor Committee or the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research & Development Committee. Urge them to oppose these two bills – HB 1833 and SB 5741.

AWC Priority Issue
PERS Gain-Sharing (HB 1771, SB 5779)

The State Actuary’s fiscal note on these bills, which would implement Governor Gregoire’s gain-sharing proposal, was made available this week. The legislation would eliminate the gain-sharing benefit after one additional disbursement, provide Plan 1 retirees with an increase in their Uniform COLA amount, and create an optional "assured benefit program" for Plan 3 members.

Initial review of the fiscal analysis shows the changes would result in a net decrease in the PERS employer rate of .12%. The estimated savings for local government over the next 25 years is more than $700 million.

AWC is preparing a fact sheet on gain-sharing which will go into more detail about the specific benefit changes and cost savings of this legislation. It will be posted on our website next week at www.awcnet.org/factsheets.

Hearings have not yet been scheduled for either bill. We expect to see additional bills with alternative approaches to dealing with the gain-sharing issue and will report on those in future Bulletins.

Definition of Disability (HB 1322, SB 5340)

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on February 6 on a proposed substitute to HB 1322.

As originally drafted, the bill significantly expanded the definition of disability in the Washington Law Against Discrimination to encompass any impairment, temporary or permanent, that is medically cognizable or diagnosable. The substitute version retains the definition but states that, for purposes of the requirement for reasonable accommodation in employment, an impairment must either:

• have a substantial limiting effect on performing or applying for a job, or accessing equal job benefits, privileges, terms, or conditions; or
• present a reasonable likelihood that a job will aggravate the impairment so that it becomes substantially limiting.

While this additional language limits the scope, we still have strong concerns. Like the original bill, the substitute version makes the changes retroactive to all pending court cases.

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