Jolt
Afternoon Jolt: A $1.2 Billion Savings?
Today's Winner: Drug Reform
The house health care committee passed out Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles' (D-36, Ballard) medical marijuana legislation today on a 6-5 vote, sending it along to house ways and committee; the last stop before it goes to the floor for a vote. (The senate already passed its version of the legislation earlier this month with bipartisan support ).
The amended house version keeps the arrest protection provision from the senate version—a must-have for the ACLU, which says cops can't apply an arrest-now-ask-questions-later standard to people caught with medical marijuana. On the flip side, the bill now requires a dispensary to serve ten rather than three patients and would require the health department to create a lottery for a set number of licensed dispensaries.
The bill also keeps the senate provision banning medical marijuana advertising intact.
In a helpful rundown on the amended bill, the Spokesman-Review says the committee's new bill language could drive some Democrats away (the new version, for example, says dispensing medical marijuana cannot be a health care professional's sole business), while attracting some Republicans who are on the fence.
Today's Loser: Workers
Yesterday's Afternoon Jolt recognized labor advocates as the day's winner after we heard from house labor committee chair Rep. Mike Sells (D-38, Everett) that he wasn't going to move the workers' comp bill out of his committee.
The Washington State Labor Council can't stand the bill, which passed out of the senate earlier this session, because it gives companies the opportunity to get out of paying for claims with lump-sum settlements. Labor's fear: Those settlements will fall short of the real medical costs that successful claims would mandate.
We added an asterisk to their win, though: Supporters of the bill, such as conservative Democratic caucus member Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-44, Lake Stevens), told us they were waiting for the fiscal note to come out before they put pressure on Sells, making their case that the bill will save money.
Voila. The fiscal note came out late yesterday, and here's the eye-popping number: The Office of Financial Management estimates the bill will save $1.2 billion in the 2011-13 biennium and $240 million a year after that. The savings primarily come from the difference between covering medical costs and retraining vs. the estimates on the settlement payouts.
The number certainly adds momentum to the case for the bill. At least superficially. So, today's loser—labor.
This may be too subtle to amend labor's loser status today, but it should be noted: The savings aren't a savings to the state budget (which would be a silver bullet for proponents of the bill); it's a savings to business, which pays into the worker's comp fund. That fund is not related to the current $5.2 billion shortfall.
Even more subtle: The $1.2 billion isn't like a check or a refund that's coming to businesses this year—it's a reflection of savings in the next biennium that will be realized in insurance rates in the future.
Also, and perhaps this confirms labor's losing status. The savings are coming at the expense of workers.
The house health care committee passed out Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles' (D-36, Ballard) medical marijuana legislation today on a 6-5 vote, sending it along to house ways and committee; the last stop before it goes to the floor for a vote. (The senate already passed its version of the legislation earlier this month with bipartisan support ).
The amended house version keeps the arrest protection provision from the senate version—a must-have for the ACLU, which says cops can't apply an arrest-now-ask-questions-later standard to people caught with medical marijuana. On the flip side, the bill now requires a dispensary to serve ten rather than three patients and would require the health department to create a lottery for a set number of licensed dispensaries.
The bill also keeps the senate provision banning medical marijuana advertising intact.
In a helpful rundown on the amended bill, the Spokesman-Review says the committee's new bill language could drive some Democrats away (the new version, for example, says dispensing medical marijuana cannot be a health care professional's sole business), while attracting some Republicans who are on the fence.
Today's Loser: Workers
Yesterday's Afternoon Jolt recognized labor advocates as the day's winner after we heard from house labor committee chair Rep. Mike Sells (D-38, Everett) that he wasn't going to move the workers' comp bill out of his committee.
The Washington State Labor Council can't stand the bill, which passed out of the senate earlier this session, because it gives companies the opportunity to get out of paying for claims with lump-sum settlements. Labor's fear: Those settlements will fall short of the real medical costs that successful claims would mandate.
We added an asterisk to their win, though: Supporters of the bill, such as conservative Democratic caucus member Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-44, Lake Stevens), told us they were waiting for the fiscal note to come out before they put pressure on Sells, making their case that the bill will save money.
Voila. The fiscal note came out late yesterday, and here's the eye-popping number: The Office of Financial Management estimates the bill will save $1.2 billion in the 2011-13 biennium and $240 million a year after that. The savings primarily come from the difference between covering medical costs and retraining vs. the estimates on the settlement payouts.
The number certainly adds momentum to the case for the bill. At least superficially. So, today's loser—labor.
This may be too subtle to amend labor's loser status today, but it should be noted: The savings aren't a savings to the state budget (which would be a silver bullet for proponents of the bill); it's a savings to business, which pays into the worker's comp fund. That fund is not related to the current $5.2 billion shortfall.
Even more subtle: The $1.2 billion isn't like a check or a refund that's coming to businesses this year—it's a reflection of savings in the next biennium that will be realized in insurance rates in the future.
Also, and perhaps this confirms labor's losing status. The savings are coming at the expense of workers.
