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

New tourism funding passes the Legislature

By Jan Teague, President/CEO

This past week a new fee on retailers passed the Senate, SHB 2229, and is waiting for the Governor's signature.  The fee will fund state tourism marketing efforts and will be distributed across industries including retail with details on how to collect it to be worked out over the summer. 

Very few legislators voted no, largely because they don't want to try to find general fund dollars to fund tourism.  Until the recession hit, the state funded tourism, which remains the practice in most states.  But the legislature's struggle to fund education has become the challenge for many of our state-funded programs that compete to remain relevant and maintain their state funding. 

Through the course of the hearings and with a great deal of mixed interest from retailers, I discovered that some of our members will directly benefit from increased attention for their communities.  At the same time I heard from some of my members in communities that truly are not travel destinations. Those retailers wanted to know why they should pay a fee for a program that wouldn't benefit them.  Other retailers are specialty services and will not get tourists at all. 

This was a very hard issue for our industry to discuss with legislators given their interest in the tourist tax dollars that will help to fuel the state's budget in the years ahead.  The legislature will be taking another look at how the program will operate before the fee gets implemented, so next session its members will have to decide which state agency will collect the fee. 

We will keep you posted as we work with the Washington Tourism Alliance, which has been assigned the task of finalizing the details of the program. 

Session coming to a close

By Mark Johnson, VP Government Affairs

All indications are that the 2014 Legislative Session will conclude on time this Thursday.

But one never truly knows until the end whether something will go awry and require a special session. The Governor is the one who makes the call for a special session.

Special Sessions are called in 30-day increments.  The legislature can adjourn before the full 30 days are used up.  I can only speculate on what might keep them here into extra days.

The incentive for legislators to close up shop and head home is the looming fall election. All 98 House members are up for election and about half the Senate.  The balance of control lies in the hands of the electorate.  WRA will play a significant role in the elections with our WRA Retail Action Council PAC.  We will be busy interviewing candidates for office and studying districts. 

The push for new taxes is the big worry as the session winds down. WRA strongly opposes efforts to add the sales tax to bottled water, to add a 95 percent tax on vapor or e-cigarettes, and attempts to make the non-resident sales tax exemption a remittance program.  All of these proposals will lead to lower sales and loss of jobs and in some extreme cases, closed stores.  We encourage legislators to vote no on raising taxes.

Next year poses a scary and daunting proposition.  In 2015, a long budget writing session, legislators will have to somehow address the State Supreme Court mandate that they do a better job paying for K-12 education.  Estimates are that billions more in dollars will be needed. Where will the money come from?

Tough choices will have to be made.  I just hope in the effort to meet the education mandate the governor and legislature don't cripple or destroy the retail industry in the process.

Document, be consistent with injured or problem employees

By Tammie Hetrick, VP Retail Services

During a seminar I attended this week, employers were urged to consistently apply documentation in the management of employees who either are injured or not meeting job expectations.

Gina Comeau, an assistant state attorney general , moderated the seminar designed to protect employers from possible legal consequences as a result of disciplining an employee.

Employers are required to make accommodations with employees who cite an injury or use of medications to explain poor productivity. At the same time, Comeau said, the employer does not have to change production standards just because of an injury or use of medications.

She urged employers to document their accommodations and set consistent expectations for all employees.

Comeau urged employers to:

*Set clear guidance and expectations with an injured employee.

*Apply standards consistently. For example, you'll only be able to discipline a consistently tardy employee if all other employees are arriving for work on time or if all tardy employees are disciplined alike.

*Apply discipline only after making the attempt to accommodate the employee to give them a chance to improve performance.

*Remind employees that The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and courts have held that with or without disabilities, they must comply with workplace safety rules.

Documentation of solutions is the best way for employers to protect themselves against possible disagreements that could develop. Also, it's important to work with the employee to improve the chances that they will be able to resume meeting expectations.

WRA seeks further reform of workers' comp

By Tammie Hetrick, VP Retail Services

WRA this week asked a Senate committee to study further possible reforms of the state's workers compensation system during the upcoming interim between the 2014 and 2015 Legislative Sessions.

Chief among WRA's requests of the Senate Commerce & Labor Committee was to study ways of simplifying wage calculations when processing workers' compensation claims. Current regulations and standards are so complicated that claims managers often disagree on wage calculations after considering health care coverage, hours worked and rates of pay.

WRA also asked the committee to devise a more precise definition of an occupational disease with the aim of clarifying that an injury was caused at work rather than somewhere else.

Such reforms would improve the speed and efficiency of processing claims and save employers money. WRA hopes that this review will improve the chances for needed reforms to the state's workers' compensation system next year.

WRA wraps up bill tracking for this session

In this, the final scheduled week of the 2104 Legislative Session, WRA wraps up its review of the few retail-related bills awaiting final action.

Here is a summary of key bills that remain pending or that failed to be voted upon during the 60-day session:

*HB 2353 failed to be voted upon in the Senate after overwhelmingly passing the House.  It would have allowed retailers to seek a $250 civil penalty against trespassers who failed to heed written warnings not to return to the property. WRA supported this bill.

*SB 6540, HB 1294 failed to be voted upon.  The bills sought to ban certain flame retardant chemicals in merchandise. Environmentalists had been seeking to include expensive testing to detect other chemicals besides those being sought for removal. WRA worked to exclude alternative chemical testing in the bills.

*HB 2155 seeks to curb the theft of liquor by teens from grocery store shelves. The bill passed the Senate unanimously and overwhelmingly in the House and now goes to the Governor for his signature into law.

WRA also is keeping a close watch on bills related to state budget negotiations that are continuing into the final hours of the session.

*WRA is opposing HB 2201, tax preference reporting. It would threaten to expose financial details of some retailers to their competitors.

*WRA is opposing two bills by House Democrats, the tax bill HB 2796 and a prohibitive tax proposed on vapor devices (electronic cigarettes), HB 2795. The budget bill contains harmful taxes on bottled water and repeal of a popular tax incentive that forgives sales taxes for some out-of-state shoppers.

Policy brief compares House, Senate budgets

The state Senate and House are spending the final days of the 2014 session this week reconciling differences in the two budgets approved by both houses, before adopting a final supplemental budget to close out the current biennium.

The documents include many similarities, but generally, the Senate budget protects tax incentives supported by WRA while the House budget does not.

The Washington Research Council has produced a policy brief that allows readers to follow the finer distinctions between the two spending plans.

The Legislature's scheduled adjournment date is tomorrow, March 13. The Governor could order a special session in the final hours, but is not expected to do so.

Click here to review the policy briefing on the separate state spending plans.

Source: Washington Research Council

Feds release final rules for large employers for Affordable Care Act

The U.S. Department of Treasury and the IRS this week released final reporting rules that large employers must follow in providing health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

The rules cover reporting requirements due early in 2016 for coverage provided in the next calendar year, 2015.

The rules apply to companies with 50 or more employees, which Treasury estimates make up about 4 percent of all U.S. employers.

To read more about the rules and to follow links for further information, including a full review of the rules, click here.

The National Retail Federation has been working with the White House and federal departments to simplify and streamline reporting requirements. It will continue to do so because many of the requests it made to simplify the rules were not included in the rules released this week.

Source: U.S. Treasury

It was a good year for retail job growth

Retailers added 11,400 jobs statewide in the past year including 2,400 in building materials and garden supply stores, according to a new state report.

The Employment Security Department reported the job gains in its monthly state employment report on Tuesday.

That report listed the state's seasonally adjusted January unemployment rate at 6.4 percent, down from December's revised 6.7 percent and down almost a full point from the 7.3 percent level a year ago in January.

The retail jobs gains of the past year were second only to the 11,600 jobs gained in education and health services. The only industry to lose jobs the past year was manufacturing, where a net loss of 700 jobs was recorded in the past year.

The state's latest 6.4 percent monthly unemployment rate beat the national average of 6.6 percent.

Click here to review the latest state employment update.

Source: Employment Security

Points to remember about national sales tax reform

During this week's crucial House committee discussion of national sales tax reform, the National Retail Federation blogged about the importance of winning a favorable House vote as soon as possible.

The Senate approved the Main Street Fairness Act almost a year ago. Click here to read the entire commentary by David French, NRF's Senior Vice President of Government Affairs. He testified today before a House committee reviewing the issue.

In his commentary, French reminds that the act would create jobs, is not a new tax and remains a much hoped for reform despite lengthy delays by Congress to take final action.

WRA is part of a coalition of business interests urging approval of the act to require online retailers to charge sales taxes and level the competitive playing field with traditional brick and mortar stores that do charge sales taxes. Leaps in shopping technology have made sales tax reform necessary to maintain economic health and remove protections originally sought to promote growth of a fledgling online retail community, the coalition maintains.

In a commentary in The Daily Caller, Texas state Rep. Allen Fletcher also supports national sales tax reform.  The current situation means that online retailers are receiving special treatment, he wrote. It resulted from a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that online retailers needed to collect sales tax only in states where they have a physical presence such as a headquarters, office or warehouse.

Click here to read Rep. Fletcher's commentary.

Safety tip: (one in a series)

To avoid injury, lift properly or get help

Several factors can cause back pain including poor physical fitness, lack of flexibility, stress, poor posture, lack of rest, and participating in certain recreational activities.

Any of these factors combined with poor lifting practices are sure to cause a costly back injury.

There are helpful guidelines to help you avoid back pain or a more serious injury:

*Is there a tool on hand that can make a lift easier?

*Can I break it down into a more manageable load, or should I get extra help? 

*Remember to start your lift by standing close to the object, your feet should be spread at shoulder width, bend at the knees, keep your back straight and do not bend at the waist. 

*Tighten your abdominal muscles and lift with the muscles in your arms and legs, not your back.

*If you must turn, do so by moving your feet, do not reach out and twist when holding an object.  When setting an object down, apply all of the same techniques.

To watch a slide show with helpful tips on lifting and avoiding back injuries, click here.

WRA employs Rick Means as a Safety and Claims Administrator who is available to members to help draw up safety plans and suggest topics for safety meetings. Contact him at 360-200-6454, or rick.means@retailassociationservices.com.  

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.

Sen. Eide will forgo another term

The state's 30^th Legislative district, considered a swing district for both parties, will include a Senate vacancy in the fall elections.

Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, announced this week that she would not be running in November to keep her seat. She has spent 18 years in the Legislature including four terms in the Senate.

Prior to Eide's announcement, former Democratic state Rep. Mark Miloscia, now a Republican, had declared his candidacy for the seat that covers cities including Federal Way, Algona and Pacific.

It is currently unclear who the Democrats might run against Miloscia. Rep. Roger Freeman, D-Federal Way, has said he will consider whether to seek the Senate seat.

Sources: Seattle Times, TVW