Activities of the Legislature affecting farmers and ranchers in Washington state

Legisletter Home

January 26, 2007

In this issue

• Register Now for Leg Days!

• DC Days Reminder

• Workers' Comp Reform

• Container Tax Meets Stiff Resistance from Business, Labor

• House Examines Commercial Trucking Regulations

• Custom Farming, B&O Tax Bills Introduced

• Propane Tax Exemption Bill Advances

• Senate Considers Eminent Domain Reform

• Legislation Addresses Metal Theft

• New Governance for Puget Sound?

• Bills of Interest

• Subscription Information

• Information Resources

Register Now for Leg Days!

Plan now to join hundreds of Farm Bureau members for Legislative Days 2007, Feb. 6-7, at the Red Lion Hotel in Olympia.

This year's program will feature presentations by key legislators, briefings by Farm Bureau staff, and meetings with local legislators. A tentative agenda is available here. To register, fill out the form here or contact Scott Dilley at sdilley@wsfb.com or 800-331-3276.

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DC Days Reminder

DC Days 2007 will occur Feb. 26-28. We encourage you to take this opportunity to meet with members of Washington's congressional delegation to discuss federal issues of importance to our state's agricultural industry. To register, please contact Patrick Connor, WFB director of national affairs, at pconnor@wsfb.com or 800-331-3276, ext. 110. Also, if you haven't made hotel reservations yet, please do so by Jan. 29 to ensure the special WFB rate of just $149/single or $159/double. Click this link to reserve your room online now: http://events.ichotelsgroup.com/DPRD-6WXK8N/WASSM

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Workers' Comp Reform

After three years of work on unemployment insurance, the Legislature will most likely begin a several year effort on workers’ comp -- the first major overhaul of these laws since 1988. There will be a spate of bills introduced by both business and labor. Rather than focus on specific bills, which are listed in our bill tracking, let’s start with defining the problem and judge the performance this session on the improvements in these areas. 

What’s Wrong with the Washington Workers’ Comp System: Four Performance Areas

1. Employers are intentionally excluded from the process. A major problem in our system is that Washington is the only state in which workers can file workers’ comp claims, and the Department of Labor and Industries routinely makes decisions on those claims, without any input from employers. L&I does not assist workers by accepting claims without input from employers, sometimes even when doctors state that the condition is not work-related. SB 5466 would require workers to inform employers within 10 days of the time that they file a workers' comp claim.

2. We don’t practice occupational medicine. Washington allows any doctor, chiropractor, ARNP, or, in some cases, physicians' assistants to handle industrial injuries. Family doctors are trained to treat conditions conservatively, but injured workers require more aggressive occupational medicine techniques. We owe it to injured workers to give them the best. To obtain the best treatment for workers, L&I must establish training for practitioners and allow claims managers to access provider lists.
There are no bills scheduled to be heard that address this problem. There is an ongoing, voluntary pilot project for treatment providers, and one bill that establishes a medical and chiropractic advisory committee.

3. We manage paperwork, instead of helping people. L&I produced a two-page flow chart with more than 60 decision points that it uses just to calculate the correct workers’ comp disability rate for an injured worker. Claims management decisions are complex and range from difficult to impossible for the average worker or small business owner to decipher. The result is that claims stay open longer, on average, than almost any other jurisdiction. Claims managers need to spend more time talking with doctors, workers, and employers, and less time shuffling paper. The employer community will submit legislation to simplify the disability wage process, and we believe that a hearing will be conducted on this bill.

4. Workers are not empowered. Nearly every other state allows workers who are receiving disability benefits to voluntarily close the claims in exchange for a lump-sum payment and indefinite free medical treatment for the injury or occupational disease, but the powerful labor union and trial lawyer lobbies here will not allow such an option. Worker-choice bills will not receive a hearing this session. Instead, legislators will consider an expanded vocational rehabilitation program that would allow workers an opt out provision.

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Container Tax Meets Stiff Resistance from Business, Labor

"It's less than a box of apples or a couple bales of hay," Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen (D-Camano Island) said of her proposed $50 per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container tax during Wednesday’s public hearing on SB 5207.

While that may not sound like much to the Senator, it adds up to substantial losses for Washington farmers.

A small hay operation we contacted exports about 80 forty-foot containers per month. The proposed fee would cost that farmer $96,000 per year. The cost to a mid-sized agricultural commodity trader we spoke with that ships some 7,200 forty-foot containers and 7,000 twenty-footers annually would face more than $1 million in added fees if Sen. Haugen’s bill is enacted.

Dozens of witnesses signed in to testify against the bill. So many, in fact, that the Committee only allowed a few panels to be heard. The ports, retailers, Teamsters, Longshoremen and other maritime union representatives expressed their opposition to the bill. The only group to testify in support was the trucking industry.

Haugen, the Senate Transportation Chair, asked the audience if a $20 rate would be more acceptable. Farm Bureau will continue to oppose SB 5207 even at $20 per TEU because it threatens the viability of Washington's agricultural industry, which depends heavily on exporting its products to global markets. 

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House Examines Commercial Trucking Regulations

On Wednesday, Jan. 24, the House Transportation Committee heard HB 1304, sponsored by Rep. Ruth Kagi (D-Lake Forest Park). The measure is the result of a study group that met during the past year to determine how to improve the safety of commercial vehicles. Unfortunately, in drafting the bill, an existing agricultural vehicle exemption was deleted. The unique use of farm vehicles needs to be considered as the final version of the bill is crafted. We have been assured this was an oversight, so we are hoping to work with the bill sponsors and all interested parties to ensure that the agricultural exemption is reinstated.

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Custom Farming, B&O Tax Bills Introduced

On Wednesday, Jan. 24, Sen. Janéa Holmquist (R-Moses Lake) introduced SB 5595 to exempt custom farming services, as well as farm management services performed by related parties, from the state’s B&O tax. This bill is identical to 2SSB 6542, which passed the Senate 45-3 but died in the House Rules Committee last year. The bill has bipartisan sponsors from the Senate Agriculture and Rural Economic Development Committee. It is a priority bill for Farm Bureau.

In addition, Sens. Jim Honeyford (R-Sunnyside) and Mark Schoesler (R-Ritzville) have introduced SB 5059, which would set the B&O rate for custom farming services at 0.2904 percent. That is the same preferential tax rate Boeing will enjoy beginning in July 2007. This bill sends a strong message that if the Legislature continues to tax the same farm activities differently based solely on whether the farmer performing them has an ownership or leasehold interest in the land, then it should do so at no more than the tax rate enjoyed by one of the state’s other large employers. Farm Bureau supports the bill, and we will continue working to fully exempt custom farming and farm management services from the B&O tax.

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Propane Tax Exemption Bill Advances

SB 5077, introduced by Sen. Jim Honeyford (R-Sunnyside), received a favorable hearing before the Senate Agriculture and Rural Economic Development Committee this week. With strong support from the ag community, the bill is likely to be forwarded to the Senate Ways & Means Committee early next week for consideration by that panel.

This bill, a priority for Farm Bureau, would exempt propane purchased for on-farm use from sales and use taxes. 

We wish to extend a special thank you to Honeyford for sponsoring or co-sponsoring the Senate versions of four of Farm Bureau’s priority bills.

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Senate Considers Eminent Domain Reform

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing this week on SB 5444, sponsored by Sen. Mike Carrell (R-Lakewood), requiring mailed notice to property owners when their property is the subject of a possible condemnation under the power of eminent domain. Farm Bureau supports the bill and its counterpart, HB 1458, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Van De Wege (D-Sequim). Between the two bills, there are 92 sponsors.

This legislation arises from a state Supreme Court ruling (5-4) in favor of Sound Transit, which posted notice only on a website when it began proceedings to condemn the property of Ken and Barbara Miller of University Place. The Millers did not receive written notice and were not able to fully participate in the proceedings.

Other legislation has been introduced dealing with eminent domain abuse. Those bills are listed in the bill tracking and will be covered in more detail in future issues of LegisLetter.

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Legislation Addresses Metal Theft

On Thursday, Jan. 26, the House Committee on Insurance and Financial Services and Consumer Protection held a hearing on HB 1251, a bill designed to cut down on the theft of metal and sale of stolen metal.

Metal theft is a growing problem for farm operations. Farm Bureau has received reports of events ranging from someone trying to dig up a cable to the theft of metal equipment and supplies valued at more than $100,000. Another farmer reported more than 100 sections of irrigation pipe stolen.

HB 1251 is sponsored by Rep. Dawn Morrell (D-Puyallup) and will increase reporting requirements for pawnbrokers and second-hand dealers. Purchase and sale of metal are currently exempt from these requirements. The bill also increases record-keeping requirements designed to more clearly identify the people who sell metal items to pawnbrokers and second-hand dealers.

Farm Bureau supports the bill. Sen. Rodney Tom (D-Medina) has sponsored the same legislation in the Senate (SB 5312).

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New Governance for Puget Sound?

On Tuesday, Jan. 23, the Senate Select Committee on Puget Sound held a hearing on HB 1374, sponsored by Rep. Dave Upthegrove (D-Burien). This measure would create the Puget Sound Partnership as a new state agency to oversee cleanup and protection of Puget Sound. The new agency would be led by a seven-member leadership council appointed by the governor. The council would be assisted by an executive director tasked with managing the agency on a day-to-day basis, including preparing and updating the action agenda "in accordance with the goals and guidelines" of the council.

The council would be responsible for guiding the agency and developing an action agenda for Puget Sound, as well as establishing an advisory board consisting of representatives of local government, tribal governments, business, agriculture, environmental organizations, and others. Additionally, the council would create a Puget Sound Science Advisory Committee to advise them.

The council would work with other local, state, and federal agencies within the region to ensure a clear organizational structure exists to "oversee development and implementation of local salmon, shoreline, water quality, and water quantity plans in accordance with the action agenda."

The measure received mixed reviews by the many folks who testified on the bill. WFB expressed concerns related to the new and very complex organizational structure. While the goal of protecting Puget Sound for future generations is worthy of support, such a bureaucratic structure could well supplant locally elected officials, thus disenfranchising voters and potentially impacting private property rights. We are committed to finding a workable solution that provides for the protection of Puget Sound without harming property owners or abrogating the authority of the many local governments with jurisdiction in the area.

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Bills of Interest

The following is a list the bills we are currently tracking.

• In the Bill column, E = Engrossed (i.e., amendments have been adopted), S (preceding HB or SB) = Substitute bill, HB = House Bill, SB = Senate Bill, JM = Joint Memorial, JR = Joint Resolution.

• In the Position column, S = Support, M = Monitor, N = Neutral, C = Concerns, O = Oppose.

• In the Priority column, H = High.  

• In the Lobbyist column, C = Patrick Connor, F = Dan Fazio, S = John Stuhlmiller, W = Dan Wood.

• Bold indicates a priority bill. 

Health Care  

Labor and Employment  

Land Use  

Other