Thousands of 38th District folks tune in for lawmakers' tele-Town Hall

The vast majority of policymakers really do work hard at increasing public participation in the legislative process. Take the Telephone Town Hall staged the other night for many thousands of Snohomish County people.

True, not every single one of the 28,086 Tulalip, Marysville and Everett citizens who received a telephone call from their three state legislators actually got a chance to get their two cents in. But 5,152 folks answered the phone.  And then they stayed on the line long enough to take in at least part of this second in an ongoing series of 38th Legislative District Telephone Town Halls. State Reps. John McCoy and Mike Sells, and state Sen. Nick Harper sponsored the tele-forum to emphasize more public participation for their 38th District constituents. The legislators are always on the lookout for ways to get more people more engaged in the state-government process. They held their first tele-forum a year ago, and they'll very likely do another one sometime after the 2012 session finishes up in March.

Some people who "attended" the January 31 teleforum asked questions of their lawmakers. More than a few had a desire to give them a piece of their mind. And others decided they wanted to do both. People talked about everything from the marriage-equality legislation, to funding for schools and social services, to tax reform, to government waste, to -- well, you name it.

McCoy, Sells, Harper and their 144 legislative colleagues just recently cleared the third-of-the-way mark in the 2012 Legislature. They're endeavoring to close the Olympia books by the 12 midnight, March 8, deadline for this year's 60-day legislative get-together.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Lawmakers reaching out to keep in touch with citizens

Heads up, good people of the 38th Legislative District -- the state capital is comin' at ya! And in a good way, too. Folks in the Snohomish County communities of Tulalip, Marysville and Everett are encouraged to keep their dance cards open early Tuesday night, January 31, for a Telephone Town Hall.

That's right; you read right. The three lawmakers who serve the 38th District -- state Rep. John McCoy, state Rep. Mike Sells, and state Sen. Nick Harper -- are hosting an hour-long tele-forum that evening from 6 to 7. It's a grand opportunity for citizens to engage their legislators in a frank conversation about what's going on in the 2012 legislative session.

Shortly before 6 o’clock the night of January 31, thousands of 38^th District citizens will receive telephone calls inviting them to stay on the line and participate in the tele-Town Hall. People who want to join in will be given simple, uncomplicated instructions on what to do. But wait! What if you are a 38th Legislative District resident and you want to join in but you don't get the call between 5:45 and 6 Tuesday night, January 31? In that case, simply call this toll-free telephone number directly, 1-877-229-8493, and then enter PIN code No. 18646 when prompted. And you'll be in!

McCoy, Sells, Harper and the 144 other lawmakers are about a third of the way to an early March deadline for completing their work in the 2012 legislative session. The three lawmakers emphasized that citizens should always feel free to contact one, two, or all three of them whenever the citizens want to ask a question and/or share an opinion.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Saving lives. Period.

Here at the capital, it’s sometimes difficult to see or quantify the impact a certain bill will have once it’s signed into law.

Not so with one signed into law this past Friday. This one will save lives. Period.

The problem: Each year, hundreds of workplace hazards across the state are left uncorrected, exposing many workers to potential dangers while a business owner appeals a citation issued by the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). Abatement of serious violations is automatically put on hold the moment an employer appeals. Some remain uncorrected for months or years. This loophole had left workers vulnerable to serious harm or even death.

In Washington, about 10 percent of all citations are appealed annually, and while most businesses correct hazards during an appeals process, many do not.

Senate Bill 5068, says when a business is cited for a serious or willful violation that could result in serious injury or death, they still have the right to appeal the ruling, but they must fix it. Period.

Rep. Chris Reykdal sponsored the House version of the bill and worked closely with House members Tami Green and Mike Sells, as well as stakeholders and L&I experts, to protect workers and make sure workplace hazards aren’t neglected.

Joining the lawmakers were steelworkers from the Tesoro refinery, making the trip down to Olympia to celebrate the bill’s passage. The refinery was the scene of a tragic explosion last April, which resulted in the death of seven workers.

L&I’s investigation revealed that Tesoro, despite warnings, “disregarded a host of workplace safety regulations, continued to operate failing equipment for years, postponed maintenance, inadequately tested for potentially catastrophic damage and failed to adequately protect their workers from significant risk of injury and death.”

The agency cited the company for 39 willful violations. A willful violation is a category of violation where an employer knowingly violates a rule and is plainly indifferent to correcting it, while a serious violation is one involving an instance where there is a substantial probability of serious injury or death.

While no one can say for sure whether those deaths would have been prevented, this new law certainly means lives will be saved in the future. Period.

More information about L&I’s implementation of SB 5068 can be found here.

L&I reforms and coal plant closures - the spirit of compromise abounds

This afternoon the House passed a sweeping reform package for the state Department of Labor & Industries (L&I), adding flexibility for employers and injured workers, and stricter accident prevention enforcement. In total, the package potentially saves the workers’ compensation system tens of millions of dollars each year and drives down employer premiums.

The changes come in the wake of an overhaul to the state unemployment insurance forged with broad bi-partisan participation.

“That same spirit of bringing together all parties to come to a compromise was applied to this negotiating process, in order to find common ground,” said Rep. Mike Sells, the Chair of the House Labor & Workforce Development Committee and a chief negotiator of the package.

You can read more about the bills here.

In other breaking news, an agreement was announced today between lawmakers and Transalta to begin closing down its Centralia coal plant.

Workers’ Comp reform = better care, less costly system

2011 marks the centennial of Washington's Workers' Compensation program, also known as Industrial Insurance. It is a no-fault insurance program that pays medical costs and partially reimburses the lost wages of workers who suffer job-related injuries or illnesses.

Some big changes to the program are slated for the session, to help bring down costs and better protect injured workers. The first reform came Saturday night, when the House of Representatives passed a bill to provide better medical care to injured workers and reduce costs through a new health care provider network. It also expands the number of Centers for Occupational Health and Education - a proven method of getting workers back to work sooner.

"This will lower the cost both to workers and businesses by getting people back to work much quicker so that Washington's workforce and businesses are stronger as we move out of this recession," said the bill's sponsor and Chair of the Labor and Workforce Development Committee, Rep. Mike Sells.

The measure will save about $160 million over the next four years.

To get the details on this legislation, read the press release here.

House gives businesses a break and workers a bump

The House today passed part of Governor Gregoire’s priority legislation, a $300 million tax break for state businesses and added benefit and training opportunities for laid-off workers.

“With an Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund of $2.5 billion, it became very clear that we needed to do something that benefits the businesses that have paid into it, and the workers who are unemployed,” said Rep. Mike Sells who Chairs the Labor and Workforce Development Committee and sponsored HB 1091. “We’re One Washington, we’re working together and we’re going to do what we can in this House to move this economy forward.”

The key components of the legislation:

• The bill caps unemployment insurance rates for 90% of employers, especially small businesses that haven’t experienced any layoffs, keeping the rates at 2010 levels. This reduction could mean hundreds less in taxes per employee in 2011.
• For those struggling to find work, the bill makes training programs more accessible, allowing more workers to learn new skills and build better resumes for their job search in high-demand fields.
• With some adjustment to the formula for calculating claims, Washington’s unemployed workers will qualify for the extended benefits passed by the majority Democrats in Congress during the lame-duck session in December.
• Workers who are laid off for the rest of 2011 will receive a $25 bump in their weekly benefits.
  

“Members of both sides of the aisle worked hard together for the past couple of weeks to make a better plan. We took a good idea that started out as a temporary tax decrease for businesses and a small increase for workers and we made it better,” said Rep. Larry Springer “We worked together and recognized that there’s not an employers’ Washington and there’s not a workers’ Washington, there’s just One Washington. We decrease taxes, we increase benefits and we come out with a win.”

“Every $1.00 paid in unemployment benefits returns $1.64 to the local community,” said Sells. “So this will strengthen local economies and increase activity for businesses in every community in the state.”

Virtual Town Hall Tonight at 6:30 for Reps. McCoy and Sells

We're liveblogging yet another tele-town hall tonight at 6:30pm with Reps. John McCoy and Mike Sells.

Just like before, take part, listen in, ask questions, post comments, and learn up on the good members from the 38th LD, and see what they have to say about the 2010 state budget and legislative session so far.

Snohomish County legislators urge Congressman Larsen to support strong public option for health care

Four Snohomish County legislators sent a letter to Congressman Rick Larsen last week, expressing their support for a strong public option in federal health care legislation.

Representatives Marko Liias (D - Mukilteo), Mary Helen Roberts (D - Lynnwood), John McCoy (D - Tulalip) and Mike Sells (D - Everett) wrote on October 28: "We cannot continue to allow hardworking Americans to be ruined by the high cost of health care. Hundreds of our constituents are forced to declare bankruptcy every year due to unpaid medical bills."

The purpose of the letter was to let Congressman Larsen know how important a public option is for constituents of Snohomish County, because it would serve as a fallback option for those who have no other coverage. As the health care debate continues in Washington DC, state legislators are hearing from people in their districts about lack of coverage or coverage that is too expensive for them to afford.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 47 million Americans are currently uninsured. The Washington State Insurance Commissioner announced in June that 876,000 Washingtonians lacked health care coverage, a 21 percent increase over the previous year.

Rep. Sells fights spying on students, teachers

A couple of years ago an English and Journalism Cascade High School teacher was fired because a hidden camera caught her in the act… of helping students put together an underground newspaper.

According to Everett lawmaker, Rep. Mike Sells, the school made a big mistake secretly videotaping teachers and students. Sells has introduced HB 1262 requiring school districts to notify students, teachers and school staff if they’re under video surveillance.

“The point here is not whether the students’ paper should have gone underground to avoid censoring by school district officials, nor if the teacher and her students were violating any rules,” said Sells, “the point of my bill is that regardless of what they were working on in that classroom, they should have been notified that there was a chance they’d be on camera.”

Sells' bill awaits a hearing in the House Education Committee.