Deep Dive: Legislature's missed opportunities for job-creation in the 2014 session
We’ve said it so many times that it is easy to take it for granted. When I joined the Majority Coalition Caucus – the bipartisan governing coalition in the Senate – I promised to focus my legislative efforts on “jobs, education and the budget.” We have kept that promise.
Last week, we took a look at education policy, reforms and funding, and our effort to prioritize K-12 and higher education in the budget during the last two sessions. This week, I want to take a deep dive into the MCC’s efforts to help increase private-sector job-creation.
Last year, we took some great strides forward. We kept our promise to focus on creating jobs and to making Washington a more attractive place to start or grow a business.
- We targeted job growth in the manufacturing sector by streamlining private/public projects.
- We blocked efforts to make B&O tax increases on the service industry permanent.
- We required the Departments of L&I, Ecology, and Health to annually review their rules.
- We passed my bill to create a single business portal to streamline how businesses interact and get information from state agencies.
- We advanced workers’ compensation and regulatory reforms. Passed workers’ comp reforms twice in the Senate that would save hundreds of millions for employers and workers.
This year’s session was about continuing the progress we made in 2013.
We started the year with what we called our “Jobs Now Agenda” – an aggressive series of reforms aimed at improving our business climate, reducing needless red tape, and making Washington more attractive to potential employers. As you know, one of my top priorities is creating and preserving private-sector jobs. While I had some success with streamlining permits this year, which I will highlight below, the Legislature also had a number of missed opportunities.
Below is an update on the legislative issues impacting job-creation in the 2014 session. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this issue, as well as any new ideas about how we can help get Washingtonians back to work. If you have questions or comments on this or any other topic, please send me an email or give my office a call. I want to hear from you!
Cutting the red tape: Governor signs bill to streamline permitting and make it easier to do business in Washington
Last session, Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, and I introduced a number of bills to improve the way state government interacts with private businesses, but coming in to the 2014 session it was clear to us that there was still more work to be done. As a State Auditor’s report release prior to session correctly pointed out, delays in state permitting often result in businesses having higher costs, lower revenue and ultimately reduced job creation.
Rep. Smith and I teamed up again this year to introduce the Auditor’s recommendations as the Transparency in Permitting, or TIP, Act (HB 2192/SB 6045). Last week, Gov. Jay Inslee signed the House version of the TIP Act into law. The measure requires agencies to begin tracking how long it takes to process business permit applications and provide more information online. In doing so, the measure will create transparency and certainty for businesses and accountability for agencies.
We must continue efforts to make it easier, more predictable and less costly to do business in Washington.
Giving our state’s job-creators predictability will help them spend less time waiting on permits and more time focusing on improving production and creating jobs.
Innovative plan to bring manufacturing jobs back to Washington receives universal praise; yet House refuses to act
One of the biggest disappointments of the 2014 session was the House of Representatives’ failure to vote on my bill to spur the return of manufacturing and high-paid, family-wage construction jobs.
The Reinvest in Washington Jobs Act would encourage job growth by creating a pilot program that would provide a B&O tax credit for a portion of the construction costs of up to five new manufacturing facilities, two of which must be located in eastern Washington. It would create the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges Invest in Washington account and allow an employer to contribute all or a portion of their approved credit to the account to be used exclusively by the state board for supporting customized training programs, job skills programs, job readiness training and workforce professional development, and to assist employers with state-approved apprenticeship programs for manufacturing and production occupations.
Currently, lawmakers are picking winners and losers in this state, one exemption at a time. This bill takes a better approach. It requires businesses to have skin in the game. The exemption is not given until after a business has expanded. This is going to cause industries to self-select, and that’s really what we want to do. We don’t want legislators selecting – industry by industry, employer by employer – who gets tax relief and who doesn’t.
This pilot program to bring manufacturing jobs back to our state had nearly universal support from across the political spectrum, as well as from organized labor and employers, as was evidenced by the testimony in the House Finance Committee, where the bill died.
All of those who signed up to testify on the bill signed up as “pro,” and support ranged from labor unions to representatives of the employer community.
SB 6515 passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support, and appeared to have similar support on the floor of the House, but Leadership in the House kept the measure from reaching the floor for a final up or down vote.
It is baffling why the House of Representatives would refuse to move on this bipartisan bill and leave those manufacturing jobs on the table. I look forward to continuing to educate my colleagues about this idea over the next several months, and fighting for its passage again next session.
The House of Representatives: Where good job-creation bills go to die
The Majority Coalition Caucus introduced a number of bills this session aimed at improving our state’s business climate, improving our industrial insurance system, and making it easier for our employers to maintain and create new jobs.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest obstacles to job creation in this state is the unwillingness of the Democrat leadership in the House of Representatives to move on needed reforms. In fact, the House has become the graveyard where pro-jobs bills go to die.
Senate Republicans introduced 44 jobs bills this session, and the House has only passed one – that’s right -- just one of these measures.
As our sluggish economy slowly recovers from the Great Recession, many families out there are still struggling to pay the bills and put food on table. Those families need our help; yet House Democrats have put politics ahead of helping these families find the jobs they so desperately need.
This is shameful, and I will do everything in my power to move these job proposals forward when I return to Olympia in January.
Lawmakers need to think about YOU before raising their own pay
Even as we continue our slow climb out of the Great Recession, we cannot forget the large number of Washingtonians still looking for work and those who have jobs, but have seen their wages fall or remain stagnant for years.
That’s why it was particularly disturbing when three Democrats and one Republican joined together to approve an increase in the daily allowance provided to senators – known as “per diem.”
Shortly after learning of the vote, I announced that I would refuse to accept the increase.
I believe that any increase in the daily allowance for senators, without more data to support the need for such a move, sends the wrong message to you – the people we are sent here to represent. Many of you have gone years without a raise, and a number of you have seen your hours cut, your benefits eliminated or job disappear altogether.
Our teachers, who help guide our most precious resources – our children, have gone a full six years without even a cost of living increase. So I had to ask my colleagues in the Senate one simple question: Given the struggles our constituents are still facing, how can we, as lawmakers, demand more money from the taxpayers at this time?
When the House of Representatives increased its per diem during the 2014 session, the message from the public was loud and clear: Now is not the time for lawmakers to increase their pay. That reaction should have been a warning to senators not to make the same mistake.
Unfortunately, for legislators to make this decision in the first place demonstrates a disconnect with the public that I have a difficult time understanding. We are sent here to represent you and be your voice in Olympia. In order to do that job effectively we have to be willing to listen.
You also have to be willing to speak out. If you have any thoughts, concerns or ideas to share, please contact my office. My staff and I are here to help.
As always, it remains my honor to serve you in the Washington State Senate.
Sincerely,
 Sharon Brown
State Senator
8th District
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