Jan Teague

President/CEO

360.943.9198, ext. 19

jteague@retailassociation.org

Mark Johnson

Vice President of Government Affairs

360.943.9198, ext. 15

mark.johnson@retailassociation.org

Tammie Hetrick

Vice President of Retail Services (RASI)

360.943.9198, ext. 13

 tammie@retailassociation.org

Jim Szymanski

CEO Jan Teague awarded Sen. Patty Murray (left photo) and Rep. Suzan Delbene with "Hero of Main Street" awards in recent days.

State Congressional leaders on sales tax reform receive honors

By Jan Teague, President/CEO

I recently had the opportunity to hand out an award to thank Representative Suzan Delbene and Senator Patty Murray who have both been very active at getting a law passed to require online retailers to collect sales taxes from customers. 

This issue has been around since I first started at the retail association in 1998.  Over the years online sales have grown. The competition that our local stores face is not fair when an online retailer can offer the same product without collecting sales tax.  For larger ticket items, this can be a significant price difference. 

Representative Delbene, who was our state's Department of Revenue Director before being elected, is a strong advocate for retailers and understands what is at stake.  She sits on the Judiciary Committee expected to hear the "Main Street Fairness" Senate version of the bill in the next few weeks.  Delbene tells me that the chair of the committee has been reluctant to hear the bill passed by the Senate late last year.  He is interested in changing it and at this time I am not sure this would be a good idea.

According to Senator Murray who I met with yesterday, there is concern over making changes.  Murray believes there are enough votes in the House to pass the Senate's version, but a few House leaders are standing in the way.  I find it discouraging to hear this when I know that by 2017, in a few short years, online sales will balloon to represent over half of our entire holiday sales numbers this year.  I did feel like something will happen this year after my talk with Senator Murray.  She gave me some assurances that it is now on everyone's radar.

I guess now it's a matter of moving it through the complicated Congressional political process.

Trespass penalty bill passes the House

By Mark Johnson, VP Government Affairs

Retailers would be able to seek a $250 fine from individuals who ignored written trespass notices under a bill approved this week in the House of Representatives.

HB 2353 is sponsored by Rep. Jay Rodne, R-Snoqualmie.

On occasion, retailers must contend with unruly, disruptive and sometimes dangerous individuals. Stores currently have little recourse for chronic shoplifters, for example.

Unless the thief steals $750 worth of merchandise or more to qualify as a felony, police rarely respond to calls and prosecutors rarely pursue such cases to trial. One result is that retailers must contend with the same shoplifters repeatedly.

The bill would allow the retailer to give a written notice of trespass to a chronic shoplifter and inform them if they came back they could be taken to civil court and fined $250.  Hopefully this would deter many of these individuals.  This new tool would also free up police and prosecutors from having to respond to as many theft cases.

WRA hopes the Senate will give the bill a hearing and favorably send it to the Governor for his signature.

Revenue seeks comments on upcoming tax advisory

The Department of Revenue is preparing an advisory addressing when awards must be included in the sales price of a purchase and when awards represent a discount excluded from the sales price.

Revenue has requested comments from retailers no later than March 7 of this year. Click here to read a draft of the advisory to form the basis of any comments. Retailers typically introduce rewards programs to promote loyalty among customers.

Revenue instructs those wishing to comment to e-mail their comments to Tim Jennrich as TimJe@dor.wa.gov.

Source: DOR

Senate passes Retro reform bill

By Tammie Hetrick, VP Retail Services

The state Senate this week passed SB 5112, an important Retro reform bill that could save significant employer costs in the workers' compensation system.

The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Janéa Holmquist-Newbry, R-Moses Lake, would grant qualified Retrospective Ratings programs the right to schedule independent medical examinations associated with workers' compensation cases. That task is currently handled by the Department of Labor & Industries.

The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for further review and action. WRA is hopeful that the bill will receive a committee hearing and vote.

If the Legislature approves, qualified Retrospective Ratings programs would schedule cases in conjunction with a similar pilot program under the direction of Labor & Industries.

WRA's hope is to add efficiency to claims processing so that employees can return to gainful employment sooner.

State revenues keeping pace with forecast, report says

State budget officials have increased the revenue forecast by $30 million for the 2013-15 biennium and by $82 million for the period from 2015-17.

Revenue collections primarily from sales and business taxes through Feb. 10 have been coming in very close to the November, 2013 forecast, the Economic Revenue Forecast Council reported today.

The state economy has continued in its slow-growth mode of recent months and employment continues to rise since the latest recession with exceptions being aerospace and government.

Click here to review the entire 44-page report.

Source: Economic Revenue Forecast Council

Rise in federal minimum wage will cost jobs, Congressional report finds

A Congressional Budget Office report released this week concludes that 500,000 jobs would be lost if the national minimum wage rose from $7.25 to $10.00, as urged by President Obama and some members of Congress.

The 40-page report also forecast that many families already earning income higher than the federal poverty level would benefit from an increase rather than the poorest people.

These findings are contrary to points typically made by proponents of raising the minimum wage.

WRA is opposed to raising the state minimum wage because it dries up economic opportunity by pressuring businesses to reduce payrolls and increase prices for goods and services. WRA favors incentives to hire such as training wages and teen wages set temporarily below the minimum.

Click here to read the entire CBO report.

Source: Washington Research Council

Legislature passes bill cutoff dates

Today is Day 38 of the Legislature's scheduled 60-day 2014 session ending on March 13.

Bill introductions from here on out will slow down because Tuesday was the last day to consider and act on bills in the house of origin. However, bills deemed necessary to implement the state budget may be introduced until the last day of session.

WRA is testifying and monitoring outcomes on several bills with potential impact on retailers. Here is a summary of highpoints regarding bills on WRA's tracking radar:

HB 2155 overwhelmingly passed the House and goes to the Senate for further consideration. It proposes regulations to deter theft of liquor from retail stores. WRA has been working to improve the language in the bill to adopt reasonable measures by the Liquor Control Board after a credible pattern of theft by teens has been documented.

SB 5125 is in the Senate Rules committee awaiting a vote. The bill favored by WRA would limit Labor & Industries' benefit payments to injuries that can be directly linked to a workplace condition.

SB 6307 did not result in a Senate vote. WRA favored the bill that would provide for state preemption of local government "living wage" and employment laws that are randomly adding financial burdens on businesses operating in more than one jurisdiction.

HB 1294 has passed the House and is awaiting Senate action. It would ban certain flame retardants in merchandise such as bedding and children's products.

A series of mandates has passed the House, but face a skeptical Senate. They are House bills 2332 (setting triple damages for wage violations), 2333 (increasing liability for employers in employee misconduct cases), 2334 (reversing the burden of proof for independent contractors). WRA opposes these bills because of the financial burdens they would impose on employers.

Obamacare isn't working in the state, health policy expert concludes

The Affordable Care Act has not been the success in Washington that some state officials claim, a leading health policy analyst has concluded.

The great majority of patients who signed up for coverage were enrolled in the state's tax-funded Medicaid program, contrary to the primary goal of Obamacare, writes Dr. Roger Stark, a health policy expert at the Washington Policy Center.

Stark's findings, included in an opinion essay he authored, conclude that:

*290,000 Washingtonians lost their health care coverage because of Obamacare, including access to doctors they preferred.

*More workers statewide are expected to receive cancellation notices again this year as Obamacare's employer mandates convince companies to drop coverage for employees.

*Of 323,000 new enrollees in Obamacare so far, state officials are uncertain how many included patients who had lost their previous coverage.

"Thousands of Washingtonians are losing their health care coverage because of Obamacare," Stark writes. "This legislation isn't working for Washingtonians even as high-ranking state officials say it is."

Stark urged lawmakers to expand consumer choices by increasing competition between insurance companies and granting patients the right to shop for coverage across state lines. 

Visit the Washington Policy Center to read more about Starks' report.

Treasury makes health care accommodations

The U.S. Treasury has issued final regulations regarding employer mandates and penalties related to providing health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

The regulations provide some flexibility and address confusion over how non-calendar year plans must proceed to obey the law. The rules apply to large employers for next year and smaller employers for 2016.

Treasury has produced a fact sheet to clarify its regulations.

Neil Trautwein, NRF's VP and Employee Benefits Policy Counsel, said the relief to employers includes stretching the time within which they must become compliant with legal requirements.

WRA plans to attend a teleconference this week on this topic for further updates and follow up reports in this newsletter. 

Increased education spending has not improved performance, graduation rates, new analysis shows

As the 2014 Legislature is preoccupied with working to meet a Supreme Court mandate to boost education spending, a new analysis shows that past spending increases have not resulted in better scholastic outcomes.

A report by the Washington Policy Center to the Legislature found:

*Public school graduation rates remained flat even as school spending between 1990 and 2013 increased 28 percent, adjusted for inflation.

*The public school graduation rate in 1990 was 76 percent, and 77 percent in 2013.

*Trend data on academic outcomes for public school students statewide have remained largely unchanged for years.

The report concludes:  "Using state data, our research found there is no apparent correlation between sending more public money to school districts and higher graduation rates or improved academic scores for students. In fact, state figures show that while lawmakers have increased public spending on schools sharply in recent decades, graduation rates and academic learning for students have remained flat."

Click here to read the entire report to the Legislature.

Source: Washington Policy Center

Watch video overview of WRA's discount shipping partner

WRA's third-party shipping provider, PartnerShip, has released a short video overview of the discount services it offers customers.

As a WRA member, you could begin saving up to 27 percent on select FedEx shipping services by joining PartnerShip free of charge. This is even more important in the New Year because the major national shippers have just increased rates. Click here to obtain a rate analysis matching your needs.

Four other possible advantages of joining PartnerShip include:

*Routing management. Based on an analysis of shipments, PartnerShip will recommend the best shippers for particular routes. The recommendation is based on a carrier's cost effectiveness and customer service.

*Bill auditing. Vendors such as PartnerShip say they often find invoices with rate errors of up to 10 percent in favor of the freight carrier. Corrections are made before the third-party vendor sends the bill to the customer.

*Improved inbound shipping. By relying on vendors to control your inbound shipping, it can be difficult to learn how and when your orders will be shipped and delivered. You can gain that knowledge by arranging shipping through a third party partner such as PartnerShip.

*Consolidated invoices. For frequent shippers, this can mean paying only one bill weekly or monthly as opposed to paying for each shipment.

Click here to watch the video overview of the company and obtain contact information.

UI insurance no longer mandatory for corporate officers

Under a new state law, corporations no longer pay unemployment taxes on corporate officers unless the corporation requests coverage for all of its officers.

Such a request must be approved by the state Employment Security Department. The new law applies only to corporations.

Click here to see answers to several questions about the new law. Corporations must apply by March 1 to continue uninterrupted coverage for all of this year.

Corporations that don't pay state unemployment taxes still must pay the full amount of federal unemployment taxes to the IRS.

Source: Employment Security        

Lacey approves plastic bag ban

A ban repeal effort is failing in Issaquah

After more than a year's discussion, the City of Lacey last week adopted a plastic shopping bag ban that takes effect July 1.

The city council's 4-3 vote to enact the ban reflected divisions within the city about the idea, including whether the council should have allowed a vote of the people to decide the question.

The ban does not apply to plastic bags for produce or meat and food banks are exempt. Click here to read more on the Lacey ban.

Meanwhile, mail-in ballot vote counts show that an attempt to repeal a similar ban in the City of Issaquah failed in a special election last week.

As of Tuesday, with 7,495 votes counted, votes to repeal were 47.67 percent as opposed to 52.33 percent in favor of keeping the ban.

WRA favors maintaining as many shopping choices for customers as possible. WRA promotes the use of reusable bags and prefers increased commitment to recycling plastic bags as opposed to bans.

Sources: The Olympian, King County Elections

Revenue offers free March 12 business tax webinar

The state Department of Revenue will conduct its first ever online business outreach webinar at 10 a.m. on March 12.

The free webinar is scheduled for one hour. The department plans other free webinars over the course of the year.

"We've offered in-person workshops for a number of years, and offering online webinars will make it easier for small businesses to fit a workshop into their busy schedules," Revenue Director Carol K. Nelson said.

To register, visit www.dor.wa.gov/webinar. A registration deadline of Feb. 28 has been established.

Participants will learn about Washington excise taxes, reporting classifications, deductions, sales tax collection and record-keeping requirements. The webinar facilitator will answer specific questions at the end of the webinar.

Source: Revenue

Safety tip: (one in a series)

Consider a state safety consultation visit

Rather than wonder how your company would stack up in a formal state safety inspection, you can find out for free.

In cooperation with WRA, Labor & Industries offers free and anonymous safety and health consultations. Though the inspection tour is free, you must make your employees available to the inspector for comments and must agree to correct any serious safety issues that are discovered in a timely manner.

Inviting such a visit might seem risky. You would be inviting the possibility of costs associated with any violations found. But you would not be subject to a fine, and, according to L&I, the consultations are not shared with the state enforcement staff.

A few WRA members told WRA's Safety Advisor Rick Means that they scheduled such consultations and found them valuable.

"The more I thought about this, it was pretty smart," Means said. "Here is a way of having a compliance-like officer come through your shop and point out what they would be looking for, at no charge and no fines."

Before you schedule a consultation, contact Tammie Hetrick, WRA's VP of Retail Services, at 360-943-9198, Ext. 13 or at Tammie@retailassociation.org. 

In the end, the L&I official issues a report summarizing the findings. In unionized workplaces, an employee representative must be provided the opportunity to participate in the walk-through survey and opening and closing conferences.

For more information about a consultation, click here.   To request a consultation click here. 

WRA employs Means as a Safety & Claims Administrator who is available to help members with safety plans and suggestions for safety meeting topics. Contact him at 360-943-9198, Ext. 18 or rick.means@retailassociationservices.com