Washington Business Fall 2015 | Legislative Review | Page 15

issue area reports | employment & workplace

within existing legal protections. This bill would
have allowed workers age
40 and older the ability
to enter into structured
settlements.

additional bill
SB 6019

adjudicative
proceedings

Failed/AWB Supported
Senate Bill 6019, originally
sponsored by Sen. Mike
Padden, R-Spokane Valley,
wo u l d h ave c re a t e d a
fair and neutral adjudicative hearing
process, requiring presiding officers for
internal state agency administrative hearings to issue final orders. In addition,
administrative law judges at the Office of
Administrative Hearings must also issue
final orders. This would have prevented
state agencies from unfairly influencing
the hearing process. This last year, some
agency leadership tried to influence the
administrative hearing by interfering in the
process through ex-parte contact with the
hearing judge. When there is undue influence by a state agency, the hearings can
appear unfair and biased. This bill would
have helped restore the public’s confidence
in the administrative hearing process. The
bill passed the Senate, but was amended
in the House. The Senate did not concur
with the House amendments and sent the
bill back to the House. The bill ultimately
failed to pass.

Rep. Mike Sells, D-Everett, right, chairs the House Labor Committee. Rep. Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg,
is the ranking member.

“proximately caused” by actual occupational exposure. In other words, the
disease is in some way work-related.
Occupational diseases are a rapidly growing and increasingly expensive aspect of
the workers’ compensation system and
the courts have construed the law over the
years to allow non-occupational factors
to result in coverage, shifting costs into
workers’ compensation and thereby raising
the cost to employers.

are difficult to follow and inconsistently
applied. This results in benefits that are
provided in different amounts to injured
workers based on non-occupational factors. The current complicated system
should be simplified. While this is only a
study group, it is hopefully the first step
in developing additional reforms to how
benefits are calculated. The bill passed
the House 97-0 with 1 excused and the
Senate 46-1 with 2 excused.

ESB 5510

ESB 5513

workers’ compensation
benefits work group
Passed/AWB Supported

Engrossed Senate Bill 5510, introduced
by Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, creates a compensation work group to
address wage benefit calculations. Currently, wage rates and benefits are
calculated based on archaic formulas that

Bill considered as part of
AWB’s voting record

structured settlements
Failed/AWB Supported

Engrossed Senate Bill 5513 was introduced
by Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia. Currently,
only workers age 53 and older may enter
into a structured settlement for a workers’
compensation claim. This age limit should
be removed, and all workers should be able
to settle a workers’ compensation claim

Favorable outcome for
Washington businesses

Missed Opportunities

special edition 2015

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