Bill to encourage hiring “hard-to-place” job seekers

A bill providing incentives for public and private employers to hire “hard-to-place” job seekers like homeless people or former convicted felons was recently introduced.

SB 5472, sponsored by Sen. Chris Gildon (R–Puyallup), was originally introduced in 2023, but didn’t see any action last session. The bill establishes a tax credit against either B&O taxes (private employers) or public utilities taxes (public employers) as an incentive to hire former convicted felons or homeless people. The tax credits are equal to the lesser of 10% or $500 of wages and benefits paid for each “qualifying employee” hired since October 1, 2023. The bill defines a “qualifying employee” as a homeless person or a person convicted of a felony who was unemployed for at least 30 days before being hired by the employer seeking tax credit.