There are several rulemaking efforts currently underway that may impact cities. Read this brief update on some of those efforts and learn how you can engage with each policymaking process.

Job postings

SB 5761, which passed this last legislative session, requires employers to include information on a job’s wage or salary range and a general description of benefits in job postings. Most public employers already do this; however, the language of the bill is vague and may require public employers to adjust what they include in their job postings for open positions. Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) is likely to initiate rulemaking to provide more details on what will be required in job postings, but has not yet done so. AWC will continue to monitor the agency’s rulemaking activities and provide updates when available.

PFML premiums task force

We previously wrote about SB 5649, which included several provisions to help the Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML) program address serious solvency issues that threaten the viability of the program. One of those provisions is a legislative task force on PFML premiums to look into solvency issues and recommend new legislation to fix some of those issues in 2023. The task force is supposed to issue its recommendations to the Legislature by the end of 2022. However, task force members have not yet been named. AWC will continue to monitor developments with the task force and provide updates when they are available.

Ambient heat exposure

Last summer, L&I passed an emergency rule that provided extra protections for outdoor workers working in extreme heat situations. Read what we wrote previously about those emergency rules. L&I’s intention was for those temporary emergency rules to be placeholders, giving the agency time to develop and pass permanent extreme heat exposure rules through the time-consuming regular rulemaking process. The regular rulemaking process requires additional stakeholder processes, comment periods, and cost-benefit analyses that aren’t required for temporary emergency rules. Emergency rules can only remain in effect for a maximum of 120 days.

L&I did little work on permanent heat exposure rules during the fall, winter, and spring and have prompted a new round of emergency rules to get through the 2022 summer season. Rather than simply reusing last year’s emergency rules, however, the proposed 2022 emergency heat rules make changes about how and when to provide outdoor workers shade, acclimatization of new employees to outdoor temperatures, and lowers the threshold for triggering mandatory cool-down breaks from 100°F to 90°F. L&I hopes to have new emergency heat rules in place by early June. You can see the draft 2022 emergency heat rules here and here.

If you want to participate in this rulemaking, you can find stakeholder meeting materials and sign up for notices of future meetings on the L&I ambient heat exposure rule stakeholder page.

AWC does not oppose providing extra protections to outdoor workers during extreme outdoor heat, but we are concerned that L&I is lowering the thresholds to trigger mandatory measures from the 2021 emergency rule when the agency has not conducted additional cost-benefit analyses nor conducted much additional stakeholder processes. L&I had time to initiate a permanent rulemaking if they wanted a more stringent rule for 2022 and did not do so. AWC thinks they should reuse the 2021 emergency rule as a placeholder until a permanent rule can be properly adopted.

Wildfire smoke

You might remember that last summer, L&I also adopted emergency rules providing outdoor workers additional protections from wildfire smoke exposure. We wrote about those 2021 emergency smoke rules here. However, much like the heat exposure rules discussed above, L&I did little work on a permanent rule over the fall, winter, or spring and now plans to pass another round of emergency rules by early June for the 2022 fire season.

Also like the heat rules above, L&I seeks to lower the threshold for mandatory smoke exposure measures for employers without conducting the additional analysis and stakeholder processes that a permanent rulemaking would require. Among other changes, the draft 2022 emergency rule would begin to incorporate mandatory masking (albeit at high smoke levels), which would require cumbersome fit testing and extra employer cost/oversight. The 2021 emergency rule only required employers to provide masks for voluntary masking by employees, which did not require extra employer oversight.

If you want to participate in this rulemaking, you can find stakeholder meeting materials and sign up for notices of future meetings on the L&I wildfire smoke rule stakeholder page.

Again, AWC does not oppose providing extra protection to outdoor workers being exposed to wildfire smoke. We are primarily concerned that L&I is attempting to use emergency rules to impose additional mandatory measures on employers, at employer expense, without engaging in the full analysis and stakeholdering of the permanent rulemaking process. L&I had time to start work on a more stringent permanent rule, and we think L&I should reuse the agreed upon 2021 emergency smoke rule until a permanent rule can be properly adopted.