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Anderson and Rodne vote
against repeal of
unemployment insurance reforms
Reps.
Glenn Anderson,
R-Fall City, and Jay Rodne, R-Snoqualmie, voted today against
dismantling ground-breaking unemployment insurance system reforms that
have helped large and small businesses in Washington. Anderson and Rodne
said lawmakers had worked for more than a decade on creating a system
that provides fair and sustainable benefits for unemployed workers, and
House Bill 2255 would put the state back to square one.
The reforms that HB 2255
seeks to repeal were a major part of the package adopted to convince
Boeing to build its 7E7 in Washington.
“When we passed the reforms in 2003 we knew this was a big deal,”
Anderson said, speaking of the monumental nature of the bill that
today’s measure would virtually repeal. “Boeing was probably going to
move, and everybody was paying attention. So we made a change that not
only helped convince Boeing to stay, but that would help businesses –
large and small – all over our state. Now here we are, two years later,
rolling back the most significant part of that deal. This is a broken
deal that will be heard worldwide. It sends a message that Washington’s
word is no good, that we can’t keep a deal. That is a big loss for our
state.”
Prior to the reforms
enacted in 2003, Washington’s unemployment system was the most expensive
in the nation, costing three times the national average. The changes
enacted in 2003 lowered costs from about 300 percent of the national
average to about 200 percent. They also more fairly distributed weekly
benefits to all employees regardless of the industry in which they
worked and regardless of the particular quarters of the year in which
they worked.
House Bill 2255 would take
the state back to a system where year-round workers are not paid equal
benefits as those working part-time who are using the unemployment
system to subsidize their income. For example, under House Bill 2255, a
full-time nurse making $35,000 a year who is laid off would receive $350
a week in unemployment benefits. A seasonal worker who works six months
a year and makes $35,000 would receive $496 a week in benefits.
“It was just two years ago
when businesses, labor groups and lawmakers came together in a
bipartisan way to hammer out a compromise that made our unemployment
insurance system more equitable,” Rodne said. “Most of the agreement
didn’t even take effect until this past January. We haven’t even had a
chance to see the benefit and we’re gutting it. Unemployment insurance
was designed as a safety net for workers who lost their jobs through no
fault of their own. Now full-time, hard working people trying to support
their families will end up subsidizing people who don’t work all
year-round. That’s not fair or equitable.”
House Bill 2255 now moves
to the Senate for consideration.
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For more information, contact:
Bobbi Cussins, Public
Information Officer - (360) 786-7252
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