Here is a snapshot of some of the HR and labor relations bills we’ve been covering this session and where they stand.

It is now the middle of the 2022 legislative session. As such, we have reached the first set of committee cutoff dates—the deadlines by which most bills must be passed out of committees to remain “alive” for the remainder of session.

February 3 was what is known as the “policy cutoff” where bills had to be voted out of their policy committees, and February 7 is the “fiscal cutoff’ for bills to be voted out of the fiscal committees (House Appropriations, Finance, and Transportation; Senate Ways & Means and Transportation) and head to the floor. House and Senate fiscal committees were hard at work over the weekend to hear and vote out as many bills as possible ahead of the cutoff. The next deadline is the February 15 “floor cutoff,” where bills must be voted off the floor of their House of Origin and sent to the other chamber to remain alive.

Long term care

HB 1732 and HB 1733, which delay the WA Cares Fund program by 18 months and create new exemptions from the program, have already passed the Legislature and were signed into law by Governor Inslee, as we discuss here.

A number of other bills related to the WA Cares Fund were introduced, but none were voted out of committee ahead of cutoff. It is likely the Legislature won’t vote on more WA Cares Fund legislation until 2023.

Paid leave & unemployment insurance

PFML program changes

SB 5649 originally allowed people that had been previously approved for Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML) to temporarily keep benefits if the person they were taking leave to care for died. The bill has been amended to reduce costs and address program solvency issues that recently came to light, as we discuss here.

UI rate relief

SB 5873 lowers the Unemployment Insurance social cost factor to 0.5% (from 0.75%) in 2022 and to 0.7% (from 0.8%) in 2023. This will reduce the UI premium rates for those years. The bill also originally reduced the expected 2022 PFML premium increase for employees using general fund dollars, but the bill was amended to remove those provisions and limit the bill to UI rate reductions. The House companion, HB 2031, was not voted out of committee ahead of cutoff and is likely dead.

SB 5873 was voted off the Senate Floor on a 48-1 vote on February 9. It is scheduled for public hearing in the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee on February 16 at 10 am.

Paid sick leave verification

SB 5559 limits the types of verifications employers can require from certain insured or under-insured employees when they apply for leave under Washington’s paid sick leave laws. The bill was not voted out of committee ahead of cutoff and is likely dead.

Workers’ compensation

Recording independent medical exams

HB 1763 allows employees undergoing independent medical exams (IMEs) to take audio or visual recordings of their exams. It also permits the employee to bring a third-party observer to an exam. The bill requires that recording equipment or the third-party observer not obstruct the exam and requires the employee to share recordings of the exam with L&I or a self-insured employer with 14 days of a request for the recording. It was amended to exclude psychiatric exams from the requirement to allow video recordings (audio recordings still allowed) and from the provision allowing for third-party observers. The amendment also requires L&I to track the bill’s impact on the availability of IMEs. The Senate companion, SB 5627, was not voted out of committee ahead of cutoff and is likely dead.

HB 1763 is waiting to be scheduled for a floor vote in the House.

Workers’ comp litigation costs

SB 5801 requires L&I to pay both a worker’s attorney fees and litigation costs if a court reverses or changes a Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals decision on appeal, rather than the “reasonable” attorney fees set by the court under current law. It similarly requires a self-insured employer or retrospective rating group to cover the worker’s legal fees and costs if the employer or retro group appeals a board decision and a court upholds the board’s decision.

SB 5801 was voted off the Senate Floor on a 28-21 vote on February 11. It now heads to the House for consideration.

Change of circumstance look backs

HB 1902 allows L&I or a self-insured employer to look back beyond 60 days for calculating benefits if the application to reopen a claim for a “change of circumstance” was delayed because the medical provider failed to complete the provider section of the application in a timely manner. The injured worker must have also submitted the worker information section of the application to L&I, their self-insured employer (if applicable), or the treating provider within 30 days of receiving the treatment necessitated by the change in circumstance.

HB 1902 was voted off the House Floor on a 98-0 vote on February 12.

Workers’ comp benefits equity

SB 5835 originally provided the same percentage of wages received by an injured worker with a permanent total disability whether the worker is married or unmarried. It was amended in committee to remove those provisions and instead require L&I to study disparities in workers’ compensation benefits based on marital status.

SB 5835 is waiting to be scheduled for a floor vote in the Senate.

Benefits calculations for jailed workers

SB 5701 requires that when an inmate, resident, or patient at a state or local government correctional or treatment facility is injured on-the-job (like when participating in a community service or work release program), their workers’ compensation be computed based on the usual wages paid to employees in similar work outside of a correctional or institutional setting, rather than the injured inmate’s own (likely artificially low) institutional wages.

SB 5701 was voted off the Senate Floor on a 37-12 vote.

Licensing and documentation

Falsified COVID-19 documents

SB 5667 makes it a misdemeanor for a person to knowingly offer false proof of COVID-19 vaccination. It also creates a class C felony for a person to knowingly sell, offer to sell, otherwise transfer, possess with intent to sell, or transfer fraudulent proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

SB 5667 is waiting to be scheduled for a floor vote in the Senate.

Provisional EMS certifications

SB 5900 creates a provisional license for all levels of out-of-state emergency medical services professionals (including EMTs and paramedics) that come to work in Washington. The provisional license would allow EMTs or paramedics who are currently licensed or certified in another state or who have a national certification recognized by the Washington Department of Health, to have a valid license to work in Washington when they are hired by a Washington-based emergency medical services agency, like a city fire department.

SB 5900 is waiting to be scheduled for a floor vote in the Senate.

Other HR bills

Failed cannabis tests and employment

SB 5517 prohibits employers from failing or refusing to hire a prospective employee, or firing a current employee, because they submitted to a drug test that found they had used cannabis. The bill provides a number of exemptions from the new requirements related to the loss of federal funding or application of federal law to the position in question. The bill was not voted out of committee ahead of cutoff and is likely dead.

PSLF notifications

SB 5847 requires public employers to annually provide employees informational materials about the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. It requires the state Student Loan Advocate to develop informational materials on the PSLF program for employers to distribute. It also requires the Office of Financial Management to develop a program for state agencies and other public service employers to certify employment for the purposes of their employees’ participation in PSLF.

SB 5847 was voted off the Senate Floor on a 37-12 vote on February 10. It is scheduled for a public hearing in the House College & Workforce Development Committee on February 16 at 8 am.

Nondisclosure agreements

Two bills have been introduced that would limit the use of employer/employee nondisclosure agreements in regard to certain illegal activities or harassment.

HB 1795 makes provisions of nondisclosure agreements unenforceable if they prohibit disclosure of illegal discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour violations, sexual assault, or other activities clearly against public policy occurring in the workplace.

Similarly, SB 5520prohibits employers from requiring employees to sign (as a condition of employment) a nondisclosure agreement that restricts disclosure of workplace harassment or discrimination.

HB 1795 passed off the House Floor on a 56-40 vote on February 9. It is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Labor, Commerce, & Tribal Affairs Committee at 8 am.

SB 5520 is waiting to be scheduled for a floor vote in the Senate.