Lekanoff’s Latest | Behavioral health, salary transparency, catalytic converter theft

||| FROM THE OFFICE OF REP. DEBRA LEKANOFF |||

MMIWP Alert System Bill Passes the Senate

As many of you know, I am the only Native American currently serving in the Washington State Legislature, and that is the perspective I bring when developing legislation. Since joining the Legislature, one of my top policy priorities has been to advocate for the safety of the first peoples of Washington state. This year, I introduced legislation, House Bill 1725, which creates a statewide alert for missing Indigenous people, operating similarly to the ‘silver alert’ established for missing vulnerable adults.  I’m excited to report that the bill was voted out of the Senate unanimously yesterday! It will now come back to the House for concurrence, and then will be off to the governor’s desk. Once this policy is signed into law, Washington will be the first state to implement such a system, helping locate missing Indigenous people, improving communication between law enforcement and local jurisdictions, and increasing awareness about the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, particularly women and girls. I’ll keep you updated as it continues to move through the legislative process.

Building Our Behavioral Health Capacity to Support Public Safety

Last year, following the Supreme Court ruling that invalidated Washington’s statute on simple narcotics possession (the Blake decision), the Legislature made a choice to end the expensive and harmful felony for possession model and instead build up our behavioral health system to focus on treatment, care, and recovery. Instead of crowding jails, we are building up a system which connects people wanting help with case managers, stable housing, the treatment they need to recover with compassion, and the support to be successful. This year’s budget, which was passed by the House last weekend, invests heavily in this vision. Some of those investments include: $28 million to fund housing and employment for individuals struggling with behavioral health issues $27 million for expanded opioid response programs and supports $29 million to fund crisis, outreach, and diversion programs $51 million to increase the rates for mental health and substance use disorder providers $100 million for behavioral health providers that were impacted by COVID and are desperate for financial assistance to stay in operation Decades of putting people in jail isn’t working and we are failing our loved ones, neighbors, and communities that are struggling with the impacts of substance use disorder. It’s time to try something different. Last year’s budget and this supplemental budget begin the work of building a behavioral health system focused on treatment and recovery support. Importantly, not only is treatment and outreach funded but intensive case management and housing. By building a system that provides support from pre-treatment through recovery we are offering people a hand up not handcuffs. Everyone in our state will benefit from this more effective and humane approach to behavioral health.

Salary Transparency in Job Listings is a Matter of Fairness 

When people are job-hunting, shouldn’t they get a rough idea of how much they would be earning if they are hired? 

You’d think so, but that’s not the norm. The Puget Sound Business Journal reports that in 2019, just 16 percent of jobs posted in Washington included salary information, that figured almost doubled last year. This is good news, but not good enough. 

Not posting salary information right off the bat is problematic and unfair: 

• It wastes everybody’s time. Candidates spend hours going through rounds of interviews only to find out they can’t live on the offered pay, and employers spend hours interviewing people who won’t take the job once they learn what the pay is. 
• It is an equity issue that perpetuates disparities in offers and negotiations. This has a negative impact on women and people of color because they then have to disclose their salary expectations, which effectively maintains existing pay gaps. 

We have a solution in Senate Bill 5761, which we passed out of the House on March 1. The measure requires employers to provide the wage scale or salary range in job postings and to include a general description of all benefits and other compensation, rather than providing that information only upon request of an applicant after the initial job offer.  This bill is modeled after a similar law in Colorado that went into effect last year and dramatically increased the number of job postings that include compensation from 23 percent in 2019 to 73 percent in 2021.  Publicly posting salary ranges up front provides ALL applicants the same information so they can negotiate from a leveled playing field. It also makes it harder for employers to low-ball candidates with offers below the potential salary range.   This bill is the next logical step in our work as leaders in pay equity. Salary transparency is good for workers, good for businesses and good for Washington.

Saving Lives Through Prescription Drug Language Access

Understanding health care information is vital for patients’ health. For prescription drugs, following the exact directions can be a matter of life or death. Accidentally taking the wrong dose, taking the right medication at the wrong time, or eating the wrong foods while on certain medications can have life-threatening consequences.

That is why it is vital that prescription labels are accessible to our neighbors who don’t speak English as their primary language.  Clearly translating these directions isn’t a trivial courtesy – for many people, it is life or death.

That is why I am proud to have supported House Bill 1852, requiring the Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission to create rules for translating drug labels and information. This policy starts to build a structure to ensure language access throughout the healthcare system and will help us save lives here in Washington.

Taking Action to Stop Catalytic Converter Thefts

Catalytic converter thefts had been on the rise for years. Then, the pandemic hit, and thefts started skyrocketing. Nationwide, the National Insurance Crime Bureau reported nearly two thousand thefts in 2018, over three thousand in 2019, and a whopping 14,433 in 2020, leading to over $33.7 million in insurance payouts to customers. Additionally, data from State Farm showed Washington state holding the dubious title of fourth worst state in the nation for catalytic converter thefts in the first half of 2021.

Rising prices for precious metals and the devastating economic effects of the two-year global pandemic have created a perfect storm of crisis:  limited resources and supply chain disruptions that make catalytic converters enticing targets for thieves.

That’s why I’m supporting House Bill 1815 this year. This legislation presents a real opportunity to stem the sharp rise in catalytic converter thefts by requiring a scrap metal business engaging in a transaction involving a catalytic converter removed from a vehicle to record documentation indicating that it came from a vehicle registered in the seller’s name. This will immediately help law enforcement crack down on organized crime and enforce laws related to theft of private metal property. The legislation also facilitates a stakeholder process to get cops, prosecutors, judges, and business leaders together to share experiences and strategies to further drive down thefts.

I was proud to pass the bill off the floor of the People’s House, and I hope it will receive swift consideration in the state Senate. While another bill related to catalytic converter thefts was also introduced earlier this session, HB 1815 is the only bill still under consideration following legislative deadlines.

Thank you all for taking to the time to read this week’s Fantastic Friday, and for taking an interest in our progress at the House of Representatives. I will be sending out a Fantastic Friday letter each week throughout the legislative session. 

Please feel free to reach out to me using the information below, with any questions, inquiries, or concerns you may have.

I am here for you!