Vancouver lawmaker points out ‘thousands of jobs and millions of dollars’
OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire’s John Hancock soon will grace a legislative plan ending months of wrangling over how best to overhaul Washington’s injured-workers’ compensation system. Likewise, the state’s new, two-year capital budget is moving apace toward final passage here in the few remaining special-session hours.
State Rep. Jim Moeller today said he’s pleased with “the compromise carved out in House Bill 2123 on injured-workers’ compensation.” In rapid succession on a very recent afternoon and evening, the measure cleared the House, 69-26, and then the Senate, 35-12.
“Folks from both parties and both legislative chambers, as well as the governor’s office and all sides of the issue buckled down and finally nailed this injured-workers’ comp compromise,” said Moeller, who is a member of the House Labor & Workforce Development Committee.
The negotiated agreement sets up a system of optional, structured settlements for workers 55 years old and older who have been injured on the job. The age is lowered to 53 in 2015, and then in 2016 it goes down to 50.
Moeller said the injured-workers’ comp compromise “maintains the indispensable safety net for work-injured men and women. The new Rainy Day Fund created in the measure represents a very significant step toward the kind of concrete reform for which both the labor community and the business community have rightfully been clamoring.”
He said the agreement is a classic win-win because “it strikes a good balance respecting two key objectives:
“No. 1, it emphasizes the highest quality medical care and vocational rehabilitation for injured workers. And No. 2, it emphasizes the most reasonable assistance for employers in offering their employees help through transitional or light-duty work.”
Moeller also noted that the injured-workers’ comp agreement stresses the fact that injured workers won’t be coerced into taking a one-time settlement check – and then left to fend for themselves the rest of their lives.
The compromise “represents a four-year savings of $1.12 billion through creation of this sustainable new system for working people and the companies they keep working.”
The new capital budget, which is contained in House Bill 1497, was unanimously approved by the full House this morning. As the Legislature races toward tonight’s midnight finish line, the measure is awaiting action in the Senate.
Funding for continuing construction of the food-bank warehouse in Clark County is an example of local projects included in this new capital-construction budget.
Other projects include work at the School for the Blind and the School for the Deaf, Waterfront Park, Officers Row, Clark PUD, and Clark College. Funding for work at East Minnehaha Park isn’t on the main list, but it is on the alternates list, which means that it could receive funding if other projects don’t go forward.
Here in Washington, the two-year capital budget pays for buying, constructing and repairing the state’s public offices and facilities. We’re talking about everything from prisons, juvenile-rehabilitation centers, and residential-habilitation centers, to mental-health facilities, military-readiness centers, and higher education facilities.
Moeller added that this construction budget also funds public K-12 schools; environmental and natural-resource developments, such as parks and recreational facilities, and art and historical projects.
“We’re talking about thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in this capital budget,” Moeller said.