Washblog

From the AP:

Gregoire pledges to pass a revised "Fair Share" bill next year

By CURT WOODWARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Gov. Chris Gregoire pledged Thursday to pass a "perfected" bill next year mandating health care coverage by large employers, just days after a version aimed squarely at Wal-Mart died at the Legislature.

Speaking at a meeting of organized labor groups, Gregoire promised to work out details that apparently led the state House's top Democrat to block the measure this year.

"If we didn't get it this year, we're going to get it next year. Let's work together to make it happen," she said to thunderous applause from members of the Washington State Labor Council.

The bill in question was killed Tuesday evening when House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, refused to bring it up for a vote before a key legislative deadline.

Unions lobbied furiously for the measure, which would have required companies with 5,000 workers to devote 9 percent of their payrolls to health benefits. Those not meeting the standard would have to pay into taxpayer-funded health programs.

It was similar to measures being pushed in more than 30 states by organized labor, and the key target has been retail behemoth Wal-Mart.

But Chopp doubted the measure's effectiveness, and opted instead to study the status of employer-funded health care in the coming year.

Gregoire endorsed that approach Thursday, saying she had unanswered questions about the current bill, dubbed "Fair Share Health Care" by supporters.

"There are a lot of really good employers who want this done and have reached out to me and said, 'We need to make this happen. We need a level playing field in the state of Washington, and we're not going to reduce our health-care benefits in order to make that a level playing field'," she said after the speech.