Washington is not business-friendly.
That comment came from Steve Dilley, vice president of Pasco's Harms Pacific Transport, after he heard area legislators talk Wednesday at a Kennewick meeting sponsored by the Washington chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, an association representing small businesses.
State Sen. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, and state Reps. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, and Larry Haler, R-Richland, said the Democratic majority in the Legislature pushed a record number of bills but didn't take action on key issues affecting Washington businesses, such as funding new paid family leave, health care costs, transportation bottlenecks and a projected budget shortfall of more than $2 billion.
Dilley said he's glad he came. "There's a lot of scary things on the table I wasn't aware of," he said.
A proposed heat-stress rule that requires business owners to monitor temperature, in addition to providing their outdoor workers water and access to shaded rest areas or misting stations, will add to business costs, Dilley said. It's like government telling people how they should run a business, he said.
"We need to streamline the government -- the largest employer in the state," he said.
There's been a 34 percent increase in state spending but only 17 percent increase in revenues, Delvin said. "We spend way more than we take in."
Yet the Democrats couldn't come up with a plan to pay for the new family paid leave benefit approved in 2007, Chandler said. The program will cost about $100 million, the bulk of which will go to administer the program, he said, adding he doesn't know if business owners and employers will end up footing the cost.
Haler said he voted against the paid family leave plan, which provides $250 a week for five weeks to workers who care for children or sick family members. There are many other ways, like having a leave bank, to take care of family emergencies, Haler said.
"We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem," he said.
Keith Erlebach, a National Federation of Independent Business representative from Walla Walla, said the state's worker compensation system needs to be made fair, and also the cost of employee health care needs to be streamlined. It's too high, he said.
That's because the state only allows three insurance providers for employers to choose from, said Dilley. His company pays about $300 a month in health care costs for each of its 38 employees, he said.
He said he resents the idea of tolls because the trucking industry already pays a lot in fees. He said he wants the state Department of Transportation to be held accountable for its spending.
He said he's afraid the engine tax, proposed by Democratic lawmakers to help cut back the greenhouse gas emissions, may come back, adding high gas and diesel prices already have put a strain on businesses.
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