Rantz: Legislature tried to sneak through devastating bill to local entrepreneurs
Jan 24, 2019, 6:58 AM | Updated: 10:10 am
Washington lawmakers tried to sneak through a bill that would have devastated the entrepreneurial spirit in the state. It didn’t work, at least not yet.
Spearheaded by Senator Karen Keiser (D-Kent), a bipartisan group of lawmakers hoped to pass SB 5326, a law that would have prohibited salons to rent out booths to stylists or estheticians as independent contractors. Instead, they would have to be made full time employees.
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The legislation didn’t get much promotion and even senators, on both sides of the aisle, were caught by surprise.
“The first place I heard about it was on my Facebook page where some very irate hairdressers here in Washington state…” State Senator Doug Ericksen told the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “The opening line was, ‘OK, Washington, get your head out of your ‘you know where.’”
“They’re being very secretive,” he continued. “[Keiser] is a union activist and an organizer for public employee unions, that’s her job. What she has been trying to do is unionize as many private sector areas as possible. The way this works is if I prevent you from being an independent contractor, I force you to be an employee, then you can go out and unionize the employees in the system. That is their goal. And it also limits independence of the individual person and far too many Democrats in Olympia don’t like that entrepreneurial spirit of the independent contractor…”
The legislation was introduced after some lawmakers who received complaints from “dozens of salon owners” insisting booth rental put them at a competitive disadvantage because they have to pay B&O taxes, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation.
“Now the State of Washington and Karen Keiser is coming along and saying that she thinks she knows better and is going to force you to be an employee and no longer allow you to be an independent contractor,” Ericksen said.
When word spread that this legislation was coming up for a discussion, stylists, barbers and estheticians quickly mobilized, emailing and calling lawmakers demanding they kill the legislation. State Senator Ann Rivers (R-La Center), a co-sponsor of the bill, signaled reluctance to move forward, citing the “substantial number of comments” she’s received from angry constituents.
Consequently, Keiser, who’s office didn’t return a request for comment, scrapped language banning booth rentals.
But, the legislation reportedly may still end certain independent contractors from exemption from paying B&O taxes, unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. This is a controversial move, since it would cost more for independent contractors to do business in an industry that doesn’t have huge profit margins, even as a booth renter.
As senators decide how they’ll vote on the updated legislation, Republican State Representatives I’ve spoken to have come out hard against it, even though there’s no companion bill in the House.
“I am opposed to SB 5326 because I support options for stylists to work in our state,” State Representative Michelle Caldier (R-Port Orchard) told the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “[I] have received a lot of emails from constituents who are opposed to this bill.”
One of those emails was from a constituent in Port Orchard who wrote, in part:
There is room for in our state for BOTH employee based salons and independent stylists, as it has been ran [sic] for many years this way. For the freedom and control to run my independent stylist business hours and operation, please OPPOSE bill 5326.
What seems clear from all the lawmakers I’ve spoken with, on both sides of the aisle, no one expected this level of push-back, much of it spreading thanks to stylists and barbers jumping on Instagram and Facebook to sound the alarm. Now the question is will Olympia listen or will they move forward to change the independent contractor status and kill the entrepreneurial spirit?
Listen to the Jason Rantz Show, at his new time, weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here.
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