Legislative Update for Week 3

Week three brings forth a few legislative deadlines, which continues to set the pace of the session. The includes a deadline for the House of Representatives to introduce bills was 1/20 and starting on the same day, the Senate is limited to three bills until the 27th. Representatives had a similar restriction, from January 13 – 20, they’ve been limited to 5 bills. In the coming days, GNDC will review these final submitted bills to fully grasp all the potential legislation that will have an effect on the business community.
 
Bills Count: 966
GNDC has stances: 23 (+ monitoring 106)
Days left in the session: 72
 
SOME OF THE WORK WE ENGAGED IN:

HB 1159: Event Paper Tickets

• OPPOSE
• Would mandate that event venues to provide attendees with printed paper tickets at no charge if requested. If there is a request to mail, the venue may assess a $10 shipping and handling fee.
• GNDC feels this does not account for technology, cost changes, or flexibility while inserting government into business operations.

SB 2094: WSI Retirement Presumption

• OPPOSE
• With a retroactively change impacting back to 1995, this bill would provide additional benefit coverage to workers eligible for social security retirements.  

HB 1060: WSI Correctional Officer Presumption

• OPPOSE
• Would extend the presumption of compensability for certain conditions (i.e. heart attack) to correctional officers employed by the Dept of Corrections. This group addition will increase rates to all businesses, 3.5 - 5%.

HCR 3003: Constitutional Amendment Threshold Increase

• SUPPORT
• Concurrent resolution that would go to the voters in 2026.
• Increases the threshold for approving constitutional measures to 60% of the majority vote.

HB 1150: Reinstate Blue Laws

• STONGLY OPPOSE
• Would reinstate restrictions on businesses opening on Sunday.
• Read our previous coverage. 

 
Why does GNDC care about these items – specifically WSI? 
All businesses are required to pay Workforce Safety and Insurance premiums – no matter the location, size, or industry. The current WSI system has been carefully crafted to provide strong benefits and low premiums. Our state monopoly system is one of the best in the nation and needs to be maintained. The bills we are opposing create concerns for ratepayers (aka businesses) and costs (their required premiums). These radical changes will set precedence to invite other groups to come forward wanting to be included, deplete the reserves, and eliminate any possibilities of dividends paid back to the users.

INSIDER'S PEEK: Check out a testimony snippet from HB 1150 to reinstate the Blue Laws.
“Families take different opportunities to rest depending on the schedules of those families. This is a one-size-fits-all. It's a government mandate. It picks winners and losers. It may not be a one-size-fits-all that fits and works for every family.”

This bill saw swift and sound defeat in the House, with 89: 4. It was a beautiful red board. We hope the message was received.   
ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:
Governor Armstrong’s executive budget was presented. Some areas highlighted for GNDC include:

• $483.4M for property tax relief and reform;
• $464M in bonding for construction projects;
• $44.3M for Education Saving Accounts;
• $50M for higher education Challenge Grants.