Skip to content
Professional Staff Organization

Category: Legislative

2022 Legislative Town Halls (virtual & phone)

Date Time District Members Location
02/16 6:00pm-7:00pm 32nd Senator Jesse Salomon, Reps. Cindy Ryu & Lauren Davis Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaHouseDems

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WaHouseDems
02/16 7:00pm-8:00pm 44th Senator John Lovick, Reps. April Berg & Brandy Donaghy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenateDemocrats / Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/user/WASenateDemocrats
02/17 5:30pm-6:30pm 1st Senator Derek Stanford, Reps. Shelley Kloba & Davina Duerr Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenateDemocrats

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WASenateDemocrats
02/17 6:30pm-7:30pm 28th Reps. Mari Leavitt & Dan Bronoske Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaHouseDems /

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/user/WaHouseDems
02/19 11:00am-12:00pm 23rd Senator Christine Rolfes, Reps. Drew Hansen & Tarra Simmons Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaHouseDems

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WaHouseDems
02/19 1:00pm-2:00pm 43rd Senator Jamie Pedersen, Reps. Nicole Macri & Frank Chopp Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaHouseDems 

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/user/WaHouseDems
02/21 7:00pm-8:00pm 37th Senator Rebecca Saldaña, Reps. Sharon Tomiko Santos & Kirsten Harris-Talley Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaHouseDems

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WaHouseDems
02/22 6:00pm-7:00pm 27th Senator Jasmine Trudeau, Rep. Jake Fey & Speaker Laurie Jinkins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaHouseDems Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/user/WaHouseDems
02/23 6:30pm-7:30pm 27th Bipartisan 10th District Legislators Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaHouseDems Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/user/WaHouseDems
02/23 7:30pm-8:30pm 42nd Reps. Alicia Rule & Sharon Shewmake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaHouseDems Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/user/WaHouseDems
02/24 7:00pm-8:00pm 5th Senator Mark Mullet, Reps. Lisa Callan & Bill Ramos Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenateDemocrats

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WASenateDemocrats
02/26 11:00am-12:00pm 29th Representative Melanie Morgan Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/RepMelanieMorgan Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WaHouseDems
03/21 6:00pm-7:00pm 33rd Senator Karen Keiser, Reps. Tina Orwall & Mia Gregerson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaHouseDems Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/user/WaHouseDems

 

Long-Term Care Payroll Tax to be Delayed for 18 Months

Today (1/27/22), Governor Inslee announced that he has approved an 18-month delay for the long-term care payroll tax known as WA Cares. Last week, the House passed HB 1732, which delays the implementation of the tax for 18 months. The bill changes the start date from January 1, 2022 to July 1, 2023. Yesterday, the Senate passed HB 1732, which was then delivered to the Governor’s Office.

WA Cares premiums still collected starting Jan 1st

On December 17, Governor Inslee issued a press release about the delay of WA Cares Fund premium assessment. Despite this announcement, UW will still collect WA Cares Fund premiums from employees starting on January 1, 2022. FAQ #14 from the State HR page provides an explanation why:

The governor has instructed ESD [Employment Security Department] not to accept quarterly payments from all employers to give the legislature time to work on modifications to the program. However, the law remains in place and the law still requires employers, public and private, to collect the premiums from employees’ wages starting Jan. 1. The governor does not have the power to change this legal requirement on his own – it will require legislative action to change the underlying law. Legislators have committed to doing that in January and they have encouraged employers to take them at their word and forgo collections based on that commitment. There will not be penalties or interest collected on employers who do not collect.

However, the state as an employer will follow the law until it is changed. The only way to prevent collections from being legally required in January would be to change the underlying law before then.

More information can be found on the UW HR’s WA Cares Fund webpage.

PSO Legislative Preview Recap

On November 17, the PSO hosted its annual Legislative Session Preview, with guest speaker Joe Dacca, UW Director of State Relations. Over 100 people joined in to hear Dacca share the University’s legislative agenda and take questions. An important highlight is that compensation is the University’s top agenda item for the coming legislative session that begins on Monday, January 10th. A copy of the 2022 UW State Legislative Agenda can be found here.

For more information about the Office of State Relations, please visit their website. For more information about the PSO Legislative Committee, please reach out to Committee Chair Alex Bolton.

Fall 2021 Legislative update with Joe Dacca Nov 17 2:30pm

Join us for a PSO Fall 2021 Legislative Update

DATE: November, 17 2021 @ 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Join the Office of State Relations for an update on the 2021 legislative session

State Relations Director Joe Dacca will share the latest news from Olympia and answer your questions

You are invited to submit your questions in advance of the meeting to extrnaff@uw.edu

Zoom Registration required – click here to register   (UW NetID required to participate)

See you there!

WA Cares Fund: details and resources

Washington State’s new mandatory long-term care (LTC) insurance under the WA Cares Fund will pay for long-term care expenses (up to $36,500 in total) for those who reside in Washington State when they require long-term care. The WA Cares Fund will be funded by a new payroll tax, starting January 2, 2022, of 0.58% of gross wages. The tax will affect all employees in  the state unless they take action to opt out.

Washington State allows individuals that have purchased qualifying private LTC insurance before November 1, 2021, to opt out of the WA Cares Fund. Private LTC insurance ranges with respect to coverage and premiums, as compared to the WA Cares Fund and attendant payroll tax. Two typical differences:

  1. Private LTC insurance typically provides coverage in all U.S. states rather than just Washington State, and in some cases outside the U.S. as well.
  2. Private LTC premiums typically must be paid beyond retirement, until claim or death.

As a state institution, UW is not authorized by the Health Care Authority (HCA) to offer group-based long term care insurance programs. The PSO encourages all professional staff to learn about the WA Cares Fund and to decide what option is best for their individual circumstances.

For more information:

State Relations Legislative Session Recap April 30th

With the Legislature nearing the end of its regular session on April 25th, the UW Office of State Relations will host a session recap on Friday, April 30th at 1:00 PM PDT. State Relations Director Joe Dacca will share highlights from session, review the budgets, and answer questions.

To register for the meeting, click here (UW NetID is required). Due to the expected number of attendees, questions are encouraged to be submitted in advance to extrnaff@uw.edu.

DATE CHANGE: State Relations Legislative Update on April 2nd

2021 Legislative Update
Week 11: Budget proposals and their potential impact
NEW DATE: APRIL 2, 2021
Time: 1 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Register to join: https://washington.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJModuyrpjwpHdGj7IR2ZMU1sJ_hp2bs96ZR
UW NetID required to participate.

Join the Office of State Relations on Friday, April 2nd for a quick update on the 2021 legislative session. State Relations Director Joe Dacca will share the latest news from Olympia and answer your questions. In addition to reviewing the status of current budget proposals, he will provide an update on several bills the State Relations team is monitoring, including SB 5323. You are invited to submit your questions in advance of the meeting to extrnaff@uw.edu.