[NOTE: TO VIEW/PRINT, CLICK HERE FOR PDF VERSION OF DRAFT  DOC ] Areas of AAUW focus for 2023:

Apprenticeship Bills

• Education: HB 1013 regional apprenticeship pilot programs for high school students (Rep. Maycumber and Rep. Santos).
• Workplace: SB 5423 / HB 1525 expanding eligibility for working connection childcare to apprenticeship programs (Nobles / Fosse).

Reproductive Health Bills

• Keep Our Care Act – SB 5241 / HB 1263 Concerning material changes to the operations and governance structure of participants in the health care marketplace (Senator Randall / Rep Simmons).
• My Health / My Data – HB 1155 / SB 5351 Addressing the collection, sharing, and selling of consumer health data (Slatter LD48 /Dhingra LD45, requested by the AG Office).

Economic Security Bills

• Unemployment: HB 1106 Concerning qualifications for unemployment insurance when an individual voluntarily leaves work (Fosse LD38).
• Working Family Tax Credit: HB 1075 /SB 5249 Expanding eligibility for the working families’ tax credit to everyone age 18 and older (Thai LD41 / Shewmake LD42).

Sexual Assault, Gender-Related Violence, Sexual And Gender Harassment And Discrimination

• Sexual Assault Victim Support: HB 1028 Supporting crime victims and witnesses by promoting victim-centered, trauma-informed responses in the legal system (Orwall LD33). Substitute bill. Passed unanimous. Referred to Appropriations.
• Title IX: HB 1207 Preventing and responding to harassment, intimidation, bullying, and discrimination in schools (Rep. Senn). Education committee, passed 12/2/1.

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Apprenticeship Bills

HB 1013 regional apprenticeship pilot programs for high school students (Rep. Maycumber and Rep. Santos). Education committee. Passed out of committee!

SB 5423 / HB 1525 expanding eligibility for working connection childcare to apprenticeship programs (Nobles / Fosse) Early Learning & K-12 Education / Human Services, Youth, & Early Learning. Both bills are moving. Senate bill waiting for Executive Session. House bill waiting for a hearing on the 31st.

Check the apprenticeship legislator scorecard to see if your legislator sponsored any of these bills.

One Minute Pitch

• AAUW-WA supports legislation to expanding apprenticeship programs and break down barriers to girls and women’s participation.
• As your constituents, we ask you to support House Bill 1013, the regional apprenticeship pilot program for high school students sponsored by Rep. Maycumber and Rep. Santos.
• This program will help expand high school pre-apprenticeship opportunities in rural and underserved communities. We were heartened to hear during public testimony that a similar pilot program, RAP, in Snohomish County, had a 30% participation rate for girls, who are often underrepresented.
• Gender and racial equity in high school programs will help foster an inclusive and positive work environment when these students graduate and join the workforce.

One Minute Pitch

• We also ask you to support Senate bill 5423 that addresses a significant barrier to apprenticeship programs for parents by expanding the eligibility for working connections childcare to apprenticeship programs. The bill is sponsored by Senator Nobles. There is a companion House bill 1525 sponsored by Rep Fosse.
• Only ~11% of apprenticeship participants in our state are women. One of the barriers for women identified by the US Women’s Bureau is the lack of affordable, accessible childcare. Adding this childcare benefit will help reduce gender equity barriers in apprenticeship programs.

Closing

• AAUW-WA supports expanding state apprenticeship and career training programs that break down gender and racial barriers and biases.
• Both these bills will help achieve our gender equity goal.

The ASK: Please support the regional apprenticeship program for high school students, HB 1013 and the childcare benefit expansion bill, HB 1525. Can we count on your support?

Tips: HB 1013 is a good calling card to lead with when you meet with conservative or moderate legislators. It has bipartisan support with 58 sponsors. It will likely sail thru the legislative process. It has a fiscal note so will go to Appropriations in the House and Ways and Means in the Senate.

Presenting these two bills together gives the childcare bill a boost.

SB 5423 has 17 partisan sponsors but seems to have broad support. Reaching out to Republicans on this bill after talking about the regional apprenticeship bill will be helpful.

There are a lot of apprenticeship bills this session and your legislator may be sponsoring one of the other bills. Check the scorecard above.

Healthcare and Reproductive Rights – Keep Our Care Act

SB 5241 / HB 1263 Concerning material changes to the operations and governance structure of participants in the health care marketplace (Senator Randall / Rep Simmons). The Senate bill is moving and had a public hearing . You can watch  public hearing here… (fast forward to the last 30 minutes). Check the Lobby Day Legislator Scorecard to see if your Legislators sponsored this bill or are on the committee considering the bill.

Two Minute Pitch

AAUW-WA strongly supports the Keep Our Care Act, SB 5242, sponsored by Senator Randall.

• This is a healthcare equity and a gender equity bill.

We need this law, and we need it now.

• At the public hearing, we heard firefighters raising the alarm about hospital consolidations/ mergers and the impact on access to care and the risk to public safety.
  • First Aid cars in Everett waiting 3 to 4 hours in line at the Emergency Department instead of 15 minutes.
• Doctors and nurses talked about their distressing experiences not being allowed to provide critical end-of-life or reproductive care to their patients due to newly imposed religious doctrine restrictions.
• Patients described how high costs, lack of access to care, and how that impacted and continues to impact their quality of live and their families, including bankruptcy from healthcare debt.

We see how big healthcare corporations in Washington are not even trying to “play fair” or “pay fair”.

• In 2017, Washington state sued CHI Franciscan twice. Once for raised prices, increased wait times, and reduced services and locations related to consolidations. Again, for failing to make charity care accessible to tens of thousands of low-income patients. A state lawsuit was recently filed against Providence for charity care violations. That’s just not right. That’s not good community stewardship.

We need the Keep our Care Act to ensure communities have access to basic health care. The bill is not overreaching.

• “A merger must keep the same or greater access to quality, affordable care, including emergency care; primary care; reproductive care; end-of-life care, and gender affirming care.” Is that asking too much? We don’t think so.

Other states have similar laws to the Keep Our Care Act. [Massachusetts and Oregon]

• The same corporations that are complaining in WA about too much oversight putting them out of business continue to thrive in other states that similar oversights being proposed.
• Local or smaller health entities opposing KOCA oversight imagine scenarios that harm their bottom line, not scenarios that harm patients.

We like that this bill requires transparency and an opportunity for public comment.

• Patients shouldn’t have to wait until they show up at an emergency room or clinic appointment to find out the care they seek is no longer available.

AAUW-WA strongly supports the Keep Our Care Act.

The ASK: Please support the Keep Our Care Act, SB 5241 / HB 1263. Can we count on your support?

 Tips: See Fact Sheet from KOCA. AAUW-WA is part of the Keep Our Care Coalition. The first public hearing included many of our allies testifying in support.

Healthcare and Reproductive Rights – My Health / My Data

HB 1155 / SB 5351 Addressing the collection, sharing, and selling of consumer health data (Slatter LD48 /Dhingra LD45, requested by the AG Office). This bill closes the gap on health data privacy protections. House bill moving. Waiting for an Executive session.

Check the Lobby Day Legislator Scorecard to see if your Legislators sponsored this bill or are on the committee considering the bill.

One Minute Pitch

AAUW supports My Health, My Data.  HB 1155 / SB 5351 Addressing the collection, sharing, and selling of consumer health data (Slatter LD48 / Dhingra LD45).

We applaud this bill that protects women’s reproductive health data and transgender individuals’ health data. These are two groups who are being especially targeted by malicious collectors and sellers of private health data.

At the public hearing we heard:

• Young women are concerned about period tracking apps.
• Women seeking abortions are being harassed and threatened based on health-related data tracking or geofencing.
• There is concern that healthcare data will be share with law enforcement.
• The bill protects Washingtonians as well as visitors to Washington seeking reproductive care.

 We need this bill now. Incredible work was done with stakeholders to craft the bill and the substitute bill. It’s time to move this bill forward.

• As your constituents, we ask you to make sure this bill moves forward and is enacted this session.
• Don’t let special interest groups delay this critical data privacy bill by asking for amendment after amendment. The bill can be modified later if needed.
• There is increase urgency to pass this bill with the overturning of Roe v Wade. We are counting on your support to pass this bill.

These are unprecedented times that require strong action to protect women’s rights and data privacy.

The ASK: Please support the My Health / My Data Keep Our Care Act, HB 1155 / SB 5351. Can we count on your support?

Tips: Geofencing: Digital advertising firms can set up geofencing around health care facilities that trip when a person brings their cell phone or mobile device across the barrier. The individual can be bombarded with text messages and advertisements urging them not to seek reproductive or gender-affirming care.

Economic Security – Unemployment

HB 1106 Concerning qualifications for unemployment insurance when an individual voluntarily leaves work. (Fosse LD38). Passed Labor & Workplace Standards committee (6/3/0) and moved to Rules.

This bill will allow for a change to the definition of a “good cause quit” to include quits as a result of inaccessibility to childcare. This allows for workers to qualify for unemployment insurance benefits while searching for new jobs. Check the Lobby Day Legislator Scorecard to see if your Legislators sponsored this bill or are on the committee considering the bill.

Substitute bill, SHB 1106, passed the House Labor & Workplace Standards committee on a partisan vote and was referred to the Rules Committee (it has no fiscal note). Rep. Connors LD8 TriCities, Rep. Robertson LD31 Puyallup, and Rep. Schmidt LD4 Spokane voted “do not pass”. This bill has strong support from trusted Allies such as MomsRising as well as the WA State Labor Council. Opposition at from the Association of Washington Businesses and Washington Food Industry not a big surprise.

One Minute Pitch

AAUW supports HB 1106 Concerning qualifications for unemployment insurance when an individual voluntarily leaves work, sponsored by Rep. Fosse LD38.

• We know how important unemployment insurance benefits are for families in-between jobs.
• This bill resonated with our members. Many of our members have their own stories about having to quit a job for family care and the frustration and financial set back that was caused by not qualifying for unemployment.
• It is disheartening that our state has one of the most restrictive “good cause” laws for unemployment in the country.
• A 2020 state study recommends this change. The WA state Employment Security Department was tasked with studying “expanding permissible reasons for voluntary quits in the unemployment benefit program.” The 2020 report recommended adding “inaccessible care” and “relocating to be nearer to a minor child” to the list of “good causes”.
• The pandemic has made childcare even harder to find and/or afford. It has created new awareness of the importance of work-family balance. This should be a easy bill to enact!
• Passing this bill will eliminate at last one barrier for many women in the workplace.

AAUW-WA supports this bill.

The ASK: Can we count on you to support for HB1106 that expands unemployment benefits to working moms and family members who must “voluntarily quit”?

TIPS: HB 1155 is the bill that is moving right now. You can read the bill summary here . . . You can watch the first public hearing of the bill in the Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee here . . .  There was strong support for the bill from civil rights, reproductive and gender rights groups. “Other” testimony from  industry and special interest groups focused mostly of legal and technical amendments specific to their interests. Some of the recommended changes are in the substitute bill. Other amendments are likely. The companion bill SB 5351 was read in the Law and Justice Committee.

Economic Security – Working Family Tax Credit (WFTC)

There are three working family tax credit bills introduced this session. One bill HB 1075 is a Lobby Day bill. See endnote for information about the other bills. Check the Lobby Day Legislator Scorecard to see if your Legislators sponsored this bill or are on the committee considering the bill.

HB 1075 /SB 5249 Expanding eligibility for the working families’ tax credit to everyone age 18 and older (Thai LD41 / Shewmake LD42). Senate Ways and Means committee had a hearing. House Finance has a hearing coming soon.

This is an easy bill to support, most legislators have supported WFTC bills in the past and there is strong advocacy support. AAUW-WA has signed in PRO for this bill.

One Minute Pitch

AAUW supports HB 1075 /SB 5249 Expanding eligibility for the working families’ tax credit to everyone age 18 and older, sponsored by Rep Thai LD41 and Sen. Shewmake LD42.

This is an important bill that expanding the working family tax credit program to include parents 18 to 21 years of age.

Young parents, especially women, between the ages of 18 and 21 should not be excluded from this tax break. They are more likely in precarious situations than older parents and any bit of financial relief can help.

The working family tax credit, for this age group, might also allow them to continue with their education.

The ASK: Can we count on you to support the working family tax credit expansion when it comes to your committee or the floor for a vote? 

Time sensitive Call to Action: You can sign in PRO by clicking here …. Deadline is 7:00 am Tuesday January 31st. The Senate bill does not have a hearing yet. In the past WFTC companion bills moved through the House first.

Notes: There are two other WFTC bills that we have not taken a stance on.

HB 1477  Making changes to the working families’ tax credit (Thai). Finance Committee hearing coming soon. The changes: clarify program qualification requirements, allow applications to be submitted for up to three years, and require a biennial program report from the department of revenue. This bill has the same strong advocacy support as HB 1075/ SB 5423. AAUW-WA supports reducing barriers to applying for and receiving WFTC for families. We are reviewing the bill language and will likely add it to our support list.

HB 1000 Providing sales tax relief by expanding the working families’ tax credit (Stokesbary LD31) Finance Committee hearing coming soon. This bill does not have the same strong support from advocacy groups. It would double the WFTC amount and raising the income level for eligibility. AAUW-WA is not taking a stance on this bill, but would likely oppose it. I it moves forward we will take another look.