Opinion: Veto, Bob, veto!

Elizabeth New calls on Gov. Bob Ferguson to veto bills she believes undermine parental rights, healthcare access, and employer-funded benefits

Elizabeth New (Hovde) believes the unemployment insurance fund is a safety net financed by employers and meant for workers who lose work through no fault of their own; It should not be paying workers who choose not to work. Unions can do that.

Elizabeth New (Hovde)
Washington Policy Center

Gov. Bob Ferguson still has a chance to veto some very bad bills. Read more about three of them I followed this session.

— Senate Bill 5083 will increase health insurance costs for most people and could limit access to services for all Washingtonians by placing price caps on services provided to people who the state insures.

As Chelene Whiteaker with the Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) testified in February, hospitals in the state are experiencing continuously negative operating margins of -1.3% in aggregate. “When overall costs exceed payment, hospitals have two choices: Seek higher payment rates from commercial insurers — the only payment rate that is really negotiable — or cut services,” she said.

Rather than seeking cost containment and affordability for all, lawmakers advanced a bill picking winners and losers. Read more here.

— House Bill 1296 is the much-debated bill that eliminates parent notification of medical ongoings a school knows about, offers or arranges for a child. The right for parents to be notified was established by Initiative 2081 just last year.

Keeping parents out of the loop is harmful for child health outcomes. Schools also should not be accomplices to children making life-altering medical decisions on their own. Watch debate on the bill here, and read my blog, “Parents told to have a seat; government knows best” here.

— Senate Bill 5041 allows striking workers to collect unemployment insurance benefits funded by the very employers they’re striking against. Seriously.

The unemployment insurance fund could be harmed. The fund is a safety net financed by employers and meant for workers who lose work through no fault of their own. It should not be paying workers who choose not to work. Unions can do that.

See Washington Policy Center’s concerns about how SB 5041 could harm workers, consumers, businesses and taxpayers on our blog.

My session recap is here with some other bills that are going to become law.

Elizabeth New (Hovde) is a policy analyst and the director of the Centers for Health Care and Worker Rights at the Washington Policy Center. She is a Clark County resident.