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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Olympia State Republicans Try Repealing Seattle's Sick-Leave Law

Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 12:51 PM

Conservatives are wasting time and taxpayer money in Olympia:

State Senate Republicans, who have already proposed repealing the state’s never-implemented family-leave requirement, are now targeting Seattle’s sick-leave law.

The law, which took effect in September, requires businesses with at least five employees operating in Seattle to provide paid sick leave to workers. Seattle is one of three major cities in the United States to have the law.

Senate Bill 5728 would take Seattle’s law off the books by declaring that the Legislature has the sole responsibility for sick-leave requirements. Senate Bill 5726 would scale back Seattle’s law by prohibiting cities from requiring sick leave for employers based outside the city.

This is more of the same abuse of process we saw in 2011 from Republicans and Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom—elected as a Democrat in 2010 before defecting to the GOP caucus—who jammed up the budget in the last days of the session. They didn't have the votes and pushed Olympia into an expensive special session that passed the Dems' budget anyway. Likewise, this time around, Tom's power-grab gives him the ability let the GOP try overturning Seattle's sick-leave law—a law they will never muster the votes to overturn in both houses and will never get the signature of Governor Jay Inslee to approve. This is just gumming up the cogs of government, wasting time, introducing bills that won't pass this session and never will.

Republicans are always the ones braying about government waste. Tom is always riding on his high horse about bipartisanship. But this is pointless partisan politics that pushes us closer to another special session that could costs taxpayers thousands of dollars a day and can drag on for months.

This isn't bipartisanship or frugal government.

This is a temper tantrum.

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Comments (13) RSS

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Dominic is so mad, he's making all of the text on Slog bold, goddammit!

Srsly though, what a bunch of shitheads.

Posted by JenV on February 13, 2013 at 1:00 PM

I get why republicans go after stuff like this... they want government to stay out of businesses and so forth... but they're so fucking ham-fisted about it it's no wonder people think they're insane or angry.

Are they so wrapped in fog that they don't realize people will interpret this as an attack on sick workers rather than an attack on government regulations?

Posted by Urgutha Forka on February 13, 2013 at 1:05 PM

Still, good to see they've gotten rid of their old aversion to top-down regulation. I'm sure they'll now be thrilled when we kill off DOMA and implement comprehensive gun safety training, registration, and liability laws at the federal level.

Posted by rob!

on February 13, 2013 at 1:10 PM

vile.

Posted by Adrian Ryan on February 13, 2013 at 1:15 PM

RTMFA (Recall The Mother Fucker Already)

Posted by CodyBolt on February 13, 2013 at 1:17 PM

@2 The why is that they are being paid by the Chamber of Commerce types to pass an anti-labor agenda.
Any other explanations they offer are lies.

Posted by Sir Vic on February 13, 2013 at 1:41 PM

I thought the tea-baggers supported 'local control?' Why do these non-Seattleites care what happens in Seattle?

Posted by SuperSteve on February 13, 2013 at 2:37 PM

Do you really think the sick leave law will have any impact? Employers will simply give people a specified number of "personal days," to be used for any purpose. They've been doing this for years. How naive can anyone be, including the Republicans who want to repeal Seattle's feel-good (oops) law?

Posted by Unbrainwashed on February 13, 2013 at 3:26 PM

I think that Rodney Tom is about to get a check from Dave Meinert...

Posted by trstr on February 13, 2013 at 3:41 PM

I'm sorry but Rodney Tom needs a serious ass kicking.

Posted by Frank Blethen's vodka distiller on February 13, 2013 at 5:56 PM

Every time I read about something these assholes are doing it sounds more like something you'd find in a game in a political science class than something that's actually happening in the real world. They're not interested in the real world or whether something is practical because this is mostly a game and they're just trying to show off that they're better at this game than these stupid people who actually care about the outcome.

Posted by rcrantz on February 13, 2013 at 9:35 PM

@8 Paid Time Off is better than...no Paid Time Off?

Posted by tiktok on February 13, 2013 at 10:10 PM

Rodney Tom is such a liar. He told the Senate Democrats not to worry, that he is only concerned about education, jobs and the budget, and that any objectionable bills from his new reactionary friends will be blocked by the House Democrats and the Governor's veto. Now we're all engaged in a game of wack-a-mole, blocking ALEC-inspired bills, this bill that keeps restaurant, child care and retail works from coming to work sick in the midst of a flu epidemic and a 30%-below-minimum wage "training wage" that includes no training. The Environmental Coalition is tracking 150 bills, most of them bad. I would be happy to make a monthly contribution to a Defeat Rodney Tom Fund.

Posted by Sarajane46th