Washington State Legislature Begins 2025 – NFIB

Week 1 of the 2025 Session of the 69th Washington State Legislature convened on Monday, January 13, 2025.

As many readers know, Washington has its first new governor in 12 years, Gov. Bob Ferguson. In addition, we have three new statewide commissioners: Attorney General Nick Brown, Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer, and Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove. There is one new state supreme court judge, Sal Mungia. In addition, there are more than 30 new state legislators, including many state representatives who were elected or appointed to the state senate. And, there is an unfilled state senate vacancy; it is intended to appoint someone from the House to that seat, creating another vacancy in the House.

With many new politicians, that is NFIB members should reach out to your senator and representatives to introduce you to the NFIB. Tell them you’re interested and available to be their resource on issues that affect your small business, its employees, and the community you serve. Let them know that NFIB is a trusted resource to match your needs in Olympia. Something as simple as a complimentary email includes mentioning a topic or two that interests you, along with an invitation for them to contact you about that or other small business ventures, or how then reach you, and you. becoming an NFIB member is a great way to start building what can be a lasting relationship with the policy makers whose decisions affect your business every day.

You can find your legislative district and a list of councilors, with links to more information about them, here. The default email address is First.Last@leg.wa.gov.

NFIB has been around for a long time chase more than 50 bills may affect small businesses. We witnessed six of them this week.

Here are the highlights of this week.

• NFIB resistance HB 1128, establish a state childcare worker standards committee. Due to the limited time, the chairman of the work committee of the House Rep. Liz Berry we provide written information. We have given the same testimony for SB 5062, a companion bill, which will be heard in the Senate committee on Monday, January 20.

• We testified in support HB 1184, a bill c lower the exempt overtime pay limit to 1.5 times the state minimum wage. Additional written evidence was entered into the record. Although the hope of success is unlikely, we thought it necessary to explain to the committee the difficulty of the $70,000 minimum wage for management and other professional workers given the state of the economy of small businesses.

• The NFIB testified to two bills c increases and extends the personal property tax exemption, HB 1004 and HJR 4200. The latter is a constitutional amendment that increases the current limited exemption, which is limited to sole proprietors to a $50,000 exemption that applies to all businesses in the state. The other is the enabling legislation that takes effect if voters approve the amendment. NFIB participated with the support of other business groups, county directors, and other county officials. If enacted, it would relieve thousands of small businesses of the burden of preparing annual tax returns and asset statements, allowing them to file a tax return. short. It will also reduce the workload of the district administrative offices. According to their representatives, 90% of the income they receive is only 10% of the income collected from this tax.

• On Friday (January 17), the NFIB testified against two bills that would allow emergency medical care. (PTSD) workers’ compensation claims: HB 1004 for county research, doctors, and their staff; HB 1070 for city, county, and state correctional agencies. We observed Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) statistics showing these types of claims cost about $650,000 in medical treatment and more than $1 million each. each upon reaching pensionable status. Sadly, one in five PTSD claims result in a permanent pension. This is a shocking figure compared to the 5% (one in 20) pension for the rest of the Public Fund. Even worse, the rate of exposure for current PTSD claims jumped to 30% for 2025 in those categories. However, L&I used reserves to meet inflation, forcing all State Treasury employees to fund those claims. . L&I has established a PTSD subcommittee to study the problem and make recommendations. The NFIB requested that the labor committee suspend the bills until the subcommittee’s work is completed.

Next week, the NFIB expects to testify against:

• SB 5041, authorizes unemployment benefits for retired workers
• HB 1213, requires job protection for all workers who take PFML, regardless of the number of employees
• HB 1308, access to employee records

Save the Day

NFIB Small Business Day in the Capital
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
DoubleTree by Hilton

This free event will feature presentations by lawmakers and other political experts, committee hearings and opportunities to testify, and an opportunity for you to arrange your own meetings with politicians. Details to follow.

Register here.