With last week’s opposite House floor cutoff, some bills that passed both House and Senate in the same form have now passed the Legislature and will find their way to the Governor’s desk for signature or veto. However, there are still a lot of bills, including several HR & labor relations bills, that have passed with differences between the versions coming out of the House and Senate.

This third act of session is reconciliation, the final step needed to get some bills over the finish line before sine die on April 23. There can be a bit of dance to the reconciliation process, and it is often unpredictable and fast moving. Here we review a few of the important HR bills that still need to fill their dance cards before last call.

Reconciled bills passing the Legislature

Independent medical exams

HB 1068 allows an injured worker to make an audio and video recording of an independent medical examination, and to have one person of the worker's choosing present during the examination. It passed out of the House on a 65-33 vote on February 15. Some amendments were made in the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee, and the bill was voted out of the Senate on a 31-16 vote on April 7. The House concurred with the Senate amendments on April 13. It now goes to the Governor’s desk.

Employee vehicle searches

HB 1491 prohibits employers from searching an employee's privately owned vehicle located on the employer's premises. It also specifies that employees are permitted to keep any legal private property in their vehicle while on the employer's premises. The bill includes a list of exceptions. It passed out of the House on an 87-10 vote. Senate committee amendments were adopted that makes the bill part of the prohibited labor practices statues instead of the Industrial Welfare Act and removes the sections authorizing L&I to do specific rulemaking from the bill. It was voted out of the Senate on April 11 with a 45-4 vote. The House concurred with the Senate amendments on April 13 and it now goes to the Governor’s desk.

Union-member privilege

HB 1187 creates a new legal privilege between union members and their unions. AWC has a position of “other” on the bill, supporting some level of protected confidentiality for union members, but with concerns about the broad privilege in this bill. Concerns include its effect on a city’s ability to fairly defend itself in court, its impact on cities’ ability to take action against workplace misconduct, and the need to clarify that it is the employee that holds the privilege. The Senate adopted amendments exempting mandatory reporting requirements and passed the bill with a 34-14 vote on April 7. The House concurred with the Senate’s amendments and it now goes to the Governor’s desk.

Providing employee info to unions

HB 1200 requires public employers to provide certain employee records to public employee unions. Employers have 21 days to provide information on new hires, and every 120 days for all employees in each bargaining unit. AWC had concerns about the early bill drafts but was able to improve the bill in committee. It passed out of the House on a 56-41 vote on March 2. Some Senate committee amendments were adopted exempting employers whose US Dept. of Defense clearance specifically prohibits disclosing employee records, that such exclusions don’t limit an employer’s duty to bargain in good faith, and clarifies that unions cannot sell provided employee information or use it for commercial purposes. It passed the Senate on April 12 on a 29-20 vote. The House concurred with the Senate’s amendments and it now goes to the Governor’s desk.

Bills still needing agreement between the House and Senate

PFML claims data

SB 5586 permits ESD to share certain records on an employee’s PFML claim with “interested parties” (like employers) including the type of leave taken, approved dates/duration of leave, and whether the employee was approved and paid benefits in a given week. AWC supports this bill. The House passed the bill unanimously on April 5, but made amendments removing some of the types of data ESD is allowed to share with employers. The Senate still needs to concur with the House’s amendments.

“Good faith” for self-insured employers

HB 1521 creates a duty of “good faith” for self-insured employers and their third-party administrators towards workers in self-insured workers’ compensation programs, with penalties for violating good faith. They also allow L&I to write rules outlining those duties and require L&I to investigate and order resolution of claims. HB 1521 passed out of the House on March 1 with a 69-27 vote. AWC was able to negotiate some Senate amendments to the bill to narrow its scope. The bill now only applies to municipal self-insured employers and includes language clarifying that it doesn’t create a private right of action. It passed the Senate on a 32-17 vote on April 10. On April 13, the House refused to accept the Senate’s amendments and asked the Senate to recede. It is unclear if the Senate will agree to remove the negotiated amendments. The crux of the disagreement appears to be over the narrowing of the bill to exclude private employers.

Cannabis use & hiring

SB 5123 prohibits employers from “discriminating against a person in the initial hiring” for the job candidate’s off-the-job, out-of-the-workplace cannabis use or for failing an employer-required drug test for cannabis. It also provides a number of exemptions. The bill passed out of the Senate on February 22 on a 28-21 vote. The House adopted amendments that exempt law enforcement, fire departments, first responders, and corrections officers from the bill. It passed out of the House on a 57-41 vote on March 29. The Senate refused to concur and asked the House to recede from their amendments.

Finally, an update on one that didn’t make it past cut-off

HB 1320 would have required employers to provide employees their employment records within 15 business days or face stiff penalities. AWC has expressed concerns with the tight timeframes in earlier versions of the bill, but was neutral as the bill had been amended. However, HB 1320 didn’t make it past the April 12 cut-off and is likely dead.