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

Gov. Inslee

Governor Inslee speaks on his climate change agenda

By Jan Teague, President/CEO

Yesterday Governor Inslee asked more than 100 business representatives to become boosters of his efforts to stave off global warming.  He called it a moral obligation and expects to run legislation next session that will include some sort of cap and trade proposal.  The details have not been worked out yet and neither has the price tag for any of his goals. 

Inslee outlined four goals: restrain carbon pollution; form capital for research and development; create a market for transportation systems that reduce carbon; and inspire energy efficiency. 

There is a draft work plan with various lead entities taking on efforts that will be ready for next session. 

1.     Topics residing in the Governor's office include carbon emissions and coal fired electricity (reduction). 

2.     Department of Transportation will have a comprehensive proposal ready for session in January that includes state investments in public transportation, local government financial assistance, and strategies for consumers including building out the electric vehicle charging network along state highways.

3.     The Office of Financial Management will devise a low carbon fuel program and evaluate its impact on the cost of fuel.

4.     The Governor wants to establish an investment strategy for sustained funding to create new energy efficiency technologies, but has not assigned this to anyone.  The work plan does say that a capital budget proposal will be ready this October for the project.

5.     Washington State University will produce a report on how to expand the use of solar energy and have final recommendations the end of November.

6.     WSU will work with agriculture to capitalize on energy efficiency money available from the federal government.

7.     WSU will launch an Industrial Energy Services Center with a range of energy efficiency services expected to launch some time in 2015.

8.     The Commerce Department will develop a statewide program to significantly improve energy performance in public and private buildings with a focus on disclosure, financing, low income/rental, net zero energy buildings, and street lighting.  New energy codes are expected as well as requirements to upgrade street lighting.

9.     State government will be expected to reduce its vehicle emissions and make  its buildings more energy efficient.

I wanted to publish the work plan outline because there is a great deal of government activity around Governor Inslee's goals with very little time for the business community to be involved.  Two meetings are expected with the business community this fall to get our reaction to the work. 

At the meeting yesterday people voiced their concerns about the limited time and opportunity for meaningful input.  These various programs do have some private sector people at the table, but not enough to delve into unintended consequences.  The Governor wants to know the financial consequences in the months ahead.

I will say that Governor Inslee was passionate about this work and told the business community that if we did nothing, by 2040 we would have 4 times as many fires as we have now. He said his staff has run 25 environmental models and they all have daunting conclusions. 

In the months ahead, the Washington Retail Association will be monitoring these efforts and report on key issues such as street lighting and the cost of fuel.  We have had various proposals over the years on these two topics, both of which impact our consumers.  When the price of gas goes up it impacts shopping and we need to assure good street lighting so our shoppers are safe. 

WRA board adopts policy on patent trolls

By Mark Johnson, VP of Government Affairs

WRA's board of directors has unanimously adopted a policy seeking to make the phenomenon known as patent trolling illegal in Washington State.

The vote occurred last week at the board's annual summer retreat.

The policy seeks to address a practice that has begun to threaten retailers around the country. It involves extorting financial settlements from retailers regarding baseless charges that they have violated patent rights for commonly used business tools such as computerized scanners and Wi-Fi networks.

To execute the scheme, unscrupulous attorneys purchase expiring patents, then by letter, they demand licensing fees or exorbitant prices to transfer rights to companies they accuse of violating patent rights. Often, the targeted retailers are unaware of their rights and lacking sufficient funds to fight the charges in court, they agree to costly financial settlements. In many cases, the threatening letters are so amateur that they fail to cite specific patent numbers, facts or contact information.

Because of their concerns, Vermont and Oregon have passed laws in hopes of curbing the practice.

In its position paper, WRA envisions the state Attorney General as the office to enforce any law against unfair and deceptive practices such as patent trolling. The paper also notes that any state law should allow victimized companies to recover attorneys' fees associated with their legal defense costs.

From time to time, WRA enacts similar policy papers to guide legislators on the retail industry's view regarding specific bills. No bill has yet been proposed for Washington State.

U.S. Senate reintroduces e-fairness bill

A bill seeking competitive relief for brick-and-mortar retailers regarding charging sales taxes was re-introduced last week into the U.S. Senate.

The Marketplace and Internet Tax Fairness Act (MITFA) would require online retailers to charge sales taxes they often forgo in the current marketplace. Were the bill to become law, it would help traditional retailers recover from the current price advantage of up to 10 percent that some online retailers enjoy who do not charge sales required sales taxes.

Online retailers are clinging to a loophole in a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that was meant to promote the then-fledgling online retail industry. The online market has since grown so large that many in Congress no longer accept that online retailers need a price advantage to succeed.

Regardless, Congress is headed toward a lame duck session after the November elections and the remaining year of the Obama presidency. It is uncertain what will become of the bill.

To date, support for the bill has been greater in the Senate but the upcoming elections could change the politics regarding a possible vote. The Senate passed a similar bill last year but it stalled in the House.

In letters last week, WRA urged Washington Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to support MITFA. WRA also urges its members to contact the Washington, D.C. offices of Murray (202-224-2621) and Cantwell (202-224-3441) to urge them to support and pass the bill.

WRA President/CEO Jan Teague also will be traveling to Washington, D.C. next week to lobby on behalf of MITFA.

Tell NRF about your support for e-fairness

The National Retail Federation is gathering messages in support of The Marketplace and Internet Tax Fairness Act (mentioned above this item) and asks WRA members who support its passage to send in the name of their company.

In short, MITFA - S. 2609 would level the competitive playing field with online retailers by requiring them to collect existing sales taxes. The fact that many online retailers are using a tax loophole to waive sales taxes gives them an unfair price advantage that MITFA aims to address.

WRA has sent a letter urging Washington's U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to vote for the bill. It would not only create a fairer sales marketplace for brick-and-mortar stores. Without raising new taxes, it also would raise new revenues for state and local governments while adding financial support for vital services and job creation, studies show.

WRA asks member to contact Mike Cys, NRF VP of State and Political Affairs, and tell him of your support for the bill in an e-mail to CysM@nrf.com. He will add your company to that of WRA in support of Congress passing the bill.

Thank you for helping in this effort.

Court decisions cloud status of national health care law

A federal court decision Tuesday put tax subsidies that pay premiums in jeopardy in at least half the states participating in the 2010 national health care law. A second court decision this week in another state did not put the subsidies in jeopardy by ruling that they were permissable.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government was barred from subsidizing states that chose not to set up their own exchanges to help patients shop for coverage. The law, the court decided, only targeted subsidies to states that did set up exchanges, such as Washington State.

Later the same day, a Virginia court ruled the subsidies were allowable in states that had not established exchanges.

The conflicting decisions are likely to be appealed and speculation is the entire matter may be heard late next year by the U.S. Supreme Court. Again, the court decisions do not directly affect employers in Washington State, which has established a health care exchange. Starting this year, it became mandatory in most cases to carry health care insurance or face a fine.

Twenty-seven states have decided against setting up exchanges while 9 others have partially opted out.

If upheld, the D.C. court decision would make coverage under the Affordable Care Act unaffordable for millions of patients and put the entire law in jeopardy, analysts suspect. The Washington Post cited the example of a Wyoming customer whose $99 monthly premium payment was the balance following a $444-a-month federal subsidy.

One estimate is that up to 8 million patients nationally could lose health care coverage, depending upon how the courts finally rule on the matter. The ruling by a D.C. panel of judges was split by a 2 to 1 vote.

Source: NRF 

Retail a leader in job recovery statewide

Retail employment gains in the past month statewide were second only to gains in education and health services, a new Employment Security Department report shows.

The retail industry added an estimated 2,200 jobs statewide between May and June of this year. Retail trailed the 2,600 jobs gained in education and health services during that same time.

The job gains reflect the lowering of the state's unemployment rate in recent months and years.

The preliminary June jobless rate was 5.8 percent statewide, down from 6.1 percent in May and 7 percent a year ago in June. The June rate is the lowest in six years, Employment Security said. The jobless rate was 10.2 percent in February, 2010, the end of the recent employment recession in the state.

Employment Security estimates that 341,000 people are employed in the retail trade category statewide, a 2.2 percent increase from a year ago. Retail employees amount to about 11 percent of the overall number of non-farm job statewide, according to Employment Security.

Overall, the state has gained an estimated 84,700 jobs in the past year with retail accounting for about 16 percent of that gain.

Click here to read more about the state's latest employment results.

Source: Employment Security

Higher minimum wage will cost jobs, majority says in poll

Most Washington State voters believe $15 minimum wages will do more harm than good for the economy, a new poll has found.

By a margin of 54 percent to 37 percent, a random sample interviewed earlier this month believe that affected companies will conduct layoffs to compensate for needing to pay higher minimum wages, a new Elway Poll found. Layoffs were more on the minds of those polled than any economic benefits higher wages might bring, the poll found.

Also, by a 49 percent to 43 percent margin, most polled said the minimum wage should be uniform across the state and that cities should not be able to set their own minimum wages such as SeaTac and Seattle have.

Both cities are going to $15 minimum wages, higher than the current statewide minimum of $9.32 an hour.

Majorities in every income bracket above $25,000 per year thought that a $15 minimum wage would hurt more than help the economy.

Source: The Elway Poll

WRA co presents annual small business forums

WRA again this year is co-presenting a series of upcoming small business forums around the state with the Washington Policy Center.

Times and dates still are being arranged. Forums have been scheduled Aug. 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Yakima Red Lion Inn on Aug. 11 and at the same times of day on Nov. 14 at Tacoma's Pacific Grill Events Center.

Forum participants will be asked to complete a survey explaining how issues affect their business. A report reflecting the impacts will be shared with lawmakers at the upcoming 2015 state legislative session beginning next January. Topics under discussion at this year's forums will include the minimum wage, health care reform, regulation and workers' compensation.

To register as a Tacoma attendee, contact Savannah Kimball at SavannahK@tacomachamber.org. Contact Chris Cargill, 509-570-2384 or ccargill@washingtonpolicy.org to register for the Yakima event.

WRA will update information on future forums, times and dates, in this newsletter as information develops.

Thousands of accounting problems in state health exchange, staffers testify

There may be up to 6,000 improperly recorded or unrecorded premium payments within the state Health Care Exchange, officials learned this week.

Testimony about the exchange's software problems came out during a meeting of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange Operations Committee.

The exchange's operations director told the committee that the software provider for the exchange planned on assigning additional personnel to fix the accounting errors that have resulted in paying patients being told they do not have coverage.

The Seattle Times summarized the hearing in a blog post.  Click here for further details regarding this problem.

Source: Seattle Times

Store security training conference set for Oct. 8

The fourth free, all-day training conference for retail loss prevention employees has been scheduled on Oct. 8 at the Landmark Catering and Convention Center, 47 St. Helens Avenue in Tacoma. The facility includes Tacoma's Temple Theater.

The event is being organized by the Washington State Organized Retail Crime Alliance, whose directors include representatives of WRA.

Training seminars will focus on investigations, e-commerce, gift card fraud, the working relationships with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors and more. Click here to register.

Events are scheduled from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This newsletter will follow with details as the agenda and scheduled speakers confirm. For further details, contact Bill Grissom, 253-324-6217 or at bill.grissom@wscorca.org.

Seattle minimum wage referendum effort is failing

A grassroots effort to put the Seattle City Council's adoption of a $15 an hour minimum to a November public vote appears headed for defeat.

A preliminary recount of signatures petitioning for the vote appears that the required 16,510 signatures of registered voters will not be met. The law is scheduled to begin taking effect in April with the new minimum wage to be phased in over a period of several months.

There were two signature campaigns seeking a general vote of the public on whether to raise Seattle's minimum wage above the current statewide rate of $9.32 an hour. One small business effort was dubbed Forward Seattle, while West Seattle activist Craig Keller was promoting his Save Our Choice campaign.

Earlier this week, while acknowledging they probably had failed, organizers of Forward Seattle were withholding comment pending resolution of a review of disputed signatures. Those disqualified likely involved voters who have moved out of Seattle or others who signed petitions though they were not registered to vote.

City Clerk Monica Martinez Simmons told The Seattle Times that there is no legal guidance on combining the results of both signature campaigns.

For more on this issue, visit The Seattle Times.

Federal workforce innovation act signed into law

By Tammie Hetrick, VP Retail Services

The federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act was signed into law this week. It could be an important step in ongoing efforts to better prepare Americans to enter and remain in the workforce.

The bill enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress before President Obama signed it into law on Tuesday.

Here's a link to the Department of Labor's information page about the new law, which goes into effect on July 1, 2015.

In short, the new law aims to address a projected 11 million person shortage of necessary professionally trained college graduates in the decade ahead. It will encourage local workforce development boards to tailor training to their region's employment and workforce needs. It also will feature specific programs for at-risk youth, many of whom drift without jobs after they drop out of high school.

Signing the bill is another piece of good news in the ongoing efforts to train and promote qualified employees and prevent them from becoming a financial drain on businesses and taxpayers.

Port contract talks resume today

Talks toward arriving at a new labor agreement for West Coast dockworkers resumed today after a two-day break for union workers to attend a previously-scheduled caucus meeting in San Francisco.

A six-year agreement expired July 1, but the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) are continuing talks and have pledged to keep cargo moving.

The retail industry is keeping a close eye on the talks because a strike would severely hurt the economy by delaying merchandise shipments for the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons.

Cargo records already indicate that some retail imports have been diverted to East Coast ports as a possible hedge against contract talks breaking off.

Talks also will be suspended July 28 to August 1 so that the ILWU can resolve unrelated contract negotiations in the Pacific Northwest.

Source: Joint news release

Businesses near fires can request tax payment delays

Businesses affected by the state's wildfires can apply to delay their tax filings.

Businesses in counties affected by the wildfire state of emergency can ask for permission to miss tax payment deadlines. Revenue's customer service staff can be reached at 800.647.7706 during regular work week hours. Businesses can also request relief through their online My Account feature in Revenue's E-file service.

Businesses and residents outside the fire area who want to help can find a full list of ways to lend a hand through a list compiled by the Wenatchee World.

Judge trims PSE rate increase request

A Thurston County judge has sided with the state and industrial power customers who wanted to reduce rate increases being sought by Puget Sound Energy.

The ruling by Judge Carol Murphy could roll back automatic rate increases for PSE customers, a statement by Attorney General Bob Ferguson said. He estimated potential savings at $10 million a year.

Murphy said the rate case would return to the Utilities and Transportation Commission, which regulates utilities, for further legal proceedings to determine final rates.

The UTC approved the PSE rate plan in 2013, but it was challenged by the Attorney General's Public Counsel Unit and the Industrial Customers of NW Utilities (ICNU). The parties presented evidence that declining costs faced by PSE did not justify rates as high as those sought by the power utility.

PSE original rate plan called for automatic rate increases beginning in 2013 and continuing until 2016 or 2017, at PSE's option.

Visit the Attorney General for more on this issue.

Source: Attorney General

Safety tip: (last of three parts)

Protective gloves make certain jobs safer

Gloves can be an important tool to ensure that certain jobs can be performed safely.

Forgetting to wear gloves to protect your hands can lead to a variety of injuries. Chemicals used in cleaning can seriously burn skin on exposed hands. Working with corrugated materials can cut or rip skin if the worker does not use protective nylon gloves. Leather work gloves protect against infections that can result from splinters that can cut the skin when working with wood.

Rick Means, WRA's Safety Specialist, has been compiling a series of safety related videos on the Retail Association Services Inc. (RASI SAFETY TV) site. Click here to watch a useful video outlining the various uses for work gloves.

Here is a link to a good PowerPoint that can be used for your next safety meeting.

Protect your hands with the proper gloves for the task that you are trying to accomplish and preserve one of your most universal assets.

Means is available to WRA members to help draw up safety plans and suggest topics for safety meetings. Contact him at 360-943-9198, Ext. 18 or rick.means@retailassociationservices.com.

Shippers save thousands of dollars with WRA partner

Shipping customers saved an average $3,100 in 2013 by shipping with PartnerShip, a partner with WRA.

Enrolled WRA members can save up to 27 percent on select FedEx services.

WRA encourages all members to explore this service. Visitwww.PartnerShip.com/99WRA to enroll. Shipping customers with further questions are encouraged to call Partnership at 800-599-2902 or e-mailsales@PartnerShip.com. You also may click here to receive a free rate analysis to help with your shipping decision.

Help elect pro-retail candidates by donating to the PAC

By Mark Johnson, VP Government Affairs

The election season is upon us.  This is an important year with all of the state House members and half of the state Senate up for election. 

WRA's Retail Action Council Political Action Committee, or as we call it the RAC PAC, will be a major player in helping elect pro-retail candidates to the legislature.  Our process is very involved and thorough to ensure the greatest chance for success. 

First, we are diligently working on a voting record for all current members of the legislature.  We select approximately 10 bills per chamber that we were involved in and score the legislators on whether they voted with us or sponsored something we liked or didn't like.  We then combine the 2014 scores with the 2013 scores for a biennium or two-year total.  This gives a better representation of the legislators overall support or lack thereof.  Once the voting record is done the RAC PAC will make its first round of endorsements. 

Surveys will be sent to all candidates who don't have a voting record and who have filed to run for the legislature.  After scoring the surveys we will decide which candidates to interview based on their scores and the viability of their districts to elect them.  Recommendations will then be sent to the RAC PAC for consideration of endorsements and contributions.

RAC PAC contributions are very important to help the pro-retail candidates to get the word out.  Yard signs, letters, websites, radio, bill boards and TV all cost money.  A contested House race can run anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000 and an average Senate race can cost upwards of $500,000. 

Individual donation limits to candidates this year are $950 per election, so for the primary and general you can give $1,900.  Contributions to PACs are unlimited.  We can also accept corporate dollars.

In order to secure a pro-retail legislature it is critical that contributions to the RAC PAC be made.  If you are in a position to donate please mail a contribution made out to:  The Washington Retail Association Retail Action Council PAC, P.O. Box 2227, Olympia WA  98507-2227.  We appreciate all of the WRA members who have already donated.

If you would like to discuss giving opportunities please give me a call directly:  360-943-9198 ,  Ext. 15  We appreciate your serious consideration of this very important component of our political program.

Save the date for the 2014 business fair

Organizers have settled on Sept. 27 for this year's annual small business fair at Renton Technical College.

WRA is an annual exhibitor at the fair, where speakers address numerous seminars on starting and growing a small business. Admission is free.

Look for updates as they occur at www.bizfair.org. Also, look for periodic announcements on the Business Fair Facebook page.