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LEGISLATIVE ALERT |
VOTE NO on "Employer Gag Rule"
At 1:30 pm tomorrow (Wednesday the 18th), the House Commerce & Labor Committee is set to vote on the deceptively named "Worker Privacy Act". This bill claims to expand rights in relation to political and religious communication in the workplace, but many of these rights are already guaranteed under federal and state law.
The true goal behind this bill is to expand union authority on communications inside a workplace thereby silencing employer communication on matters relating to union relations.
The East King County Chambers of Commerce Legislative Coalition believes that this bill is bad for current Washington employers and sends a message to others thinking of expanding business in Washington that they should look elsewhere.
Call Members of the House Commerce & Labor Committee or your local legislator TODAY.
Status: Oppose
Cap and Trade: Risky and Unneccessary
If you're not familiar with Cap and Trade, you're not alone. Both House Bill 1819 and Senate Bill 5735 have been introduced by request of the Governor. This legislation would create a system by which companies that emit greenhouse gasses would be given "caps" on the amount of such gasses that they can emit. When they go over the predetermined amount, they will face penalties from the Department of Ecology (DOE).
When a company doesn't use their allowance, that amount is returned to the state to be "auctioned" to companies that would rather buy additional "cap space" rather than take on the penalties that will be determined by the DOE.
This is a severe regulation on the business community causing additional risk to family wage jobs that are already under attack in a weakened economy. Additonally, the state of Washington is already a leader in the reduction of greenhouse gasses.
The Coalition supports efforts to balance environmental, economic and societal benefits in environmental policymaking. This piece of legislation, however, seems hastily put together and creates far too much additional regulation at a time of economic peril.
Status: Oppose
Unemployment Insurance Increase Signed into Law
At present moment, we are unsure about the length of our economic troubles at both national and state levels.
While it is clear that there are plenty of unemployed workers that will benefit from extra money in their pocket each month, it is difficult to say for certain whether the economic crisis will rebound before the "trust" is depleted. This happened in the 1980's and the Federal Government was forced to step in and subsidize the trust.
Status: Signed into Law
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