Lawmaker has strong words for ESD as unemployment bill passes committee

One Republican senator had strong words for the Employment Security Department during a committee vote on the governor’s unemployment proposal.

The Senate Labor, Commerce, and Tribal Affairs Committee passed the bill, which was written in response to a pandemic-related unemployment crisis that is quickly draining the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund. That fund is filled entirely by unemployment taxes on employers.

Senate Bill 5061 reduces the immediate hike in unemployment taxes for businesses so that the average tax is 38% less than originally calculated, raises the weekly unemployment benefit amount for claimants, and expands unemployment coverage to those who choose not to work because they are high-risk or live with a high-risk family member.

Despite getting enough support to pass out of committee, the bill was not hailed as a perfect solution after months of record unemployment and a backlog of people waiting for payment.

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Some senators who voted yes said they still didn’t believe the bill went far enough in helping business owners or unemployed workers.

Senator Curtis King (R-Yakima) was concerned about the fact that the bill spreads the tax hit on businesses over five years, which he saw as only postponing a large burden for small businesses.

“[These business] have been struggling for months just trying to keep their employees that they value working, and trying to keep their businesses open and able they survive all of the things that they’ve had to go through,” King said. “And we need to find more ways to help them.”

Senator Rebecca Saldaña (D-Seattle) said she had received hundreds of emails just in the past week from unemployed constituents who are getting close to reaching the end of their unemployment benefits.

“I’m glad we are raising the minimum, but there is so much more that needs to be done on all sides to fix our safety net and make sure that it’s working for our families … I want to acknowledge the real hurt and suffering of our business owners, but of the actual workers, and their families in our communities,” she said.

Nay vote Senator Mark Schoesler (R-Ritzville) had sharp criticism for the state’s unemployment system. He was adamant that he could not support a bill that “rewards misconduct at ESD.”

Schoesler said that legislators have had to step in and do the work of ESD when constituents who can get neither funds nor a response out of Employment Security reach out to their government representatives instead.

“Our office has spent hundreds of hours in the interim doing the work where they had mistreated workers, and yet it’s no big deal to lose … millions of dollars to scammers and then put the pain on an installment plan,” he said. “So until we see significant improvement, I cannot vote for this bill.”

During testimony at a public hearing with the committee last week, unemployed workers similarly pleaded with senators to pass legislation that would order ESD to respond to claimants and get funds out to them more quickly.

At the same hearing, several business community representatives pleaded with senators to refill the Unemployment Trust Fund with Rainy Day Fund dollars, so the tax burden on mom-and-pops could be offset.

Committee Chair Senator Karen Keiser, one of the bill’s sponsors, did not rule out diverting certain state funds to unemployment just before the vote this week.

“We do have state dollars that can be, perhaps, used to be more targeted in relief,” she said, promising to come back to this issue in next year’s session. “And that would be something I’d be very interested in finding a method and a path forward to address.”

In the meantime, she said, the bill could serve as a helpful stopgap.

“This bill is not perfect,” she said. “It is an attempt in an emergency situation … an unprecedented situation, to address some of the urgent, urgent issues … But going forward, we will have to do more.”

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