Last session, Democratic lawmakers allowed three conservative-led ballot initiatives to come to the floor for up-and-down votes, including I-2081, the “parent’s bill of rights,” extending parents and legal guardians more insight and authority into their student’s public education.
Democrats were quick to point out that many of those parental rights already exist in statute but allowed the vote anyway as part of a tactical retreat aimed at defeating the rest of the slate of conservative initiatives headed for the ballot. A strategy that worked.
Passing the initiative also allowed lawmakers to amend it with a simple majority this year, which would not have been possible had voters approved it. Now, Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, along with a host of other progressives, introduced House Bill 1296, a new and extensive bill of rights for public school students. The bill would “prioritize student safety” and extend “privacy, to the fullest extent possible,” excluding disclosures required by law, to students, with particular protections for gender non-conforming students.
A few things are factors here. LGBTQ+ people and youth exist, and public schools have a responsibility to keep children safe. In Washington, parents have some authority over what their students can and cannot do in public schools, but that authority does not extend to their child’s classmates.
Political discourse centering around the rights of gender-expansive people and children heated up during the recent presidential election, and will likely only amplify over the next four years. Similar to last year’s parent’s bill of rights, the student bill of rights codifies existing rights to free expression in law. HB 1296 also protects LGBTQ+ students from discrimination and bullying in a public school setting.
The bill would protect transgender and gender-expansive students from harassment and would require school districts to implement guidelines for establishing gender-inclusive schools, set by the Superintendent’s office. The bill has teeth and would allow the Superintendent of Public Instruction to limit or revoke state money for school districts that fail to comply with the law.
HB 1296 is sure to incite ire among conservative culture-warriors, particularly after the national presidential campaigns made the existence of transgender adults and gender-nonconforming youth a political talking point. The bill may have an audience with the increasingly progressive Democratic majority, giving legislation that protects student expression in public schools a real chance. (Sara Kassabian)
Bills for Inslee’s revenue proposals
Bills that would impose the wealth tax and the B&O tax increases in now ex-Gov. Jay Inslee’s final proposed budget were introduced today.
Rep. Chipalo Street, D-Seattle, introduced House Bill 1319 and House Bill 1320. Street represents the 37th Legislative District, which is mostly southeast Seattle, one of the most progressive areas of the state.
The fate of the wealth tax seems up in the air given incoming Gov. Bob Ferguson’s reservations, but his recent budget outline was silent on the B&O increases. (Paul Queary)
Here come the labor bills…
For workers and business owners of all stripes, the House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards is among the most powerful bodies beneath the rotunda. Between the capitol’s cadre of progressive lawmakers and organized labor’s pull in Olympia, the committee pushes a slew of workers’ rights bills each year, often with big price tags for employers.
A few reruns from last session, such as that leg-up for striking workers will get their spotlight, but for now, here are some of the new(er) ideas lawmakers cooked up for 2025.
A bid to ban non-competes
One such bill from the committee’s chair, Rep. Liz Berry, D-Seattle, has a bill up for a hearing this morning. House Bill 1155 would end the non-compete contracts restricting workers from landing a job with a company rival.
State law already bans non-competes for workers making $123,000 per year and up or independent contractors raking in $308,000. That leaves out Washington’s burgeoning tech sector where non-competes are still floating around companies like Amazon.
States including California have all but banned non-compete on the basis that it chains people to their corporate overlords for fear of litigation or taking a worse-paying job outside their industry. The Federal Trade Commission effectively ended them for anyone making less than $151,000 per a 2024 rule, which may not stay on the books for long if the incoming presidential administration has its say.
Curbing overtime pay for nonprofit execs
Another bill aimed at the white-collar world will get some TVW airtime today. House Bill 1184 from Rep. Suzanne Schmidt, R-Spokane Valley, would exempt higher-ups working at nonprofits (e.g., executives, administrators, etc.) from overtime pay.
Many nonprofit leaders make less than the minimum salary for an employee exempt from overtime in the for-profit sector, which is currently about $78,000 for large companies and $69,000 for smaller employers, per the law.
At present, execs working for “small” nonprofits making $63,000 a year are exempt under state law. Hence why HB 1184 would apply to “big” nonprofits running 24/7 services, namely homeless shelters and group homes, with at least 50 people on the payroll.
The idea here is to incentivize nonprofit leaders to get work done in a 40-hour workweek like the rest of us and put more money toward the work. Expect big nonprofits to offer more than their two cents worth.
A gambit to grow weed unions
Folks in the weed business deadset on forming a union should have a lot to like about House Bill 1141 from Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Everett. The bill would let rural cannabis workers do just that, complete with dues and bargaining rights. HB 1141 mirrors an Oregon ballot measure that passed last fall permitting Beaver State pot shops and cannabis processors to unionize.
If passed, HB 1141 would be among the most wide-sweeping protections for marijuana fieldhands since lawmakers passed overtime pay for farmworkers in 2020 at the behest of the Supremes. Federal law on the topic does not extend to agricultural workers, and any changes there look increasingly unlikely. (Tim Gruver)
Inslee tosses a budget barb on the way out
Outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee tossed a barb at incoming Gov. Bob Ferguson yesterday over their divergent approaches to the state’s looming budget hole. Ferguson’s recent budget framework departs sharply from Inslee’s proposed spending plan from December, with th new governor embracing much deeper cuts and eschewing Inslee’s proposed wealth tax—at least for the moment.
In his final State of the State address, Inslee referenced the painful process of recovering from the deep budget cuts that followed the Great Recession: “Abstract numerical cuts actually mean concrete personal pain,” Inslee said. “Deep budget cuts always, always fall hardest on the people who can’t afford them.”
Ferguson, in the final hours of his term as state attorney general, was sitting just a few feet away. (Paul Queary)
These articles also appear in the authors’ political website, The Washington Observer.
