2007 PRESS RELEASES

February 06, 2007

Legislature: Union Bailout – State Emergency?
Bills dropped to circumvent pending U.S. Supreme Court decision

OLYMPIA—Apparently anticipating a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the Washington Education Association (WEA), lawmakers in the House and Senate today introduced bills (House Bill 2079 and Senate Bill 5921) that would gut a section of Initiative 134, passed by 72 percent of voters in 1992. The sponsors attached an emergency clause to both bills, which would allow the bills to take effect immediately, while denying the people their constitutional right of referendum, due to the purported emergency.

RCW 42.17.760, the section amended by these bills, requires unions to get permission from non-members before using their agency shop fees for political purposes. In 2001, the Washington Education Association was prosecuted by then-Attorney General Christine Gregoire and penalized $590,375 for its intentional violations of the law when it co-mingled agency fees with its general treasury. The union appealed, arguing the law was unconstitutional. This issue went before the U.S. Supreme Court on January 10, 2007. The questions of the Justices indicated a probable ruling in favor of the law. A decision is expected in June.

HB 2079 and SB 5921, the sponsors of which all received contributions from the WEA, effectively eliminates the requirement on unions to get permission from individual workers before spending their mandatory fees on politics.

"These bills demonstrate an appalling contempt for the free speech rights of teachers and other workers," said Michael Reitz, director of the Labor Policy Center for the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF). "The bills permit unions to make political contributions from general treasury funds even if the union co-mingled agency fees."

"Teachers have been all the way to the highest court in the land to protect their rights, and yet the union has made another attempt around the simple requirement to ask permission first.

"While the union claims the law is 'murky,' the Supreme Court Justices seemed to think it was very clear," continued Reitz. "As Chief Justice John Roberts said, 'It's their [the teachers'] decision.'"

Additional Information
House Bill 2079
Senate Bill 5921
Analysis of arguments before the Supreme Court of the United States
U.S. Supreme Court Hears Cases on Use of Union Dues for Politics
Legislature Slows Use of Emergency Clause
Right of referendum null and void?
HJR 4218 - Requiring a sixty percent vote for emergency clauses

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