Published January 2005

Chambers combine voices
for legislative agenda

By Louise Stanton-Masten
Guest Editorial

Joining together to present a strong voice on behalf of the businesses of Snohomish County is the mission of the Joint Government Affairs Committee of the Everett Area, South Snohomish County and Monroe chambers of commerce.  

Each year the committee proposes a legislative agenda that represents members’ business, job creation/retention and economic development goals. The agenda is approved by the respective chambers’ boards of directors and is presented to elected state representatives.

During the legislative session, the committee advocates on behalf of legislation it believes is important for business, tracks how legislators vote on those bills and publishes a report at the end of the legislative session.

The 2005 Legislative Agenda identifies a number of key areas of concern:

• Naval Station Everett and Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005.
• Taxes and fees.
• Transportation and physical infrastructure.
• Liability reform.
• Health care.
• Education.
• Regulations and permitting.
• Tools for economic development and competitiveness.

In support of the agenda, the committee, on behalf of the chambers’ members, will:

• Encourage legislative support for Naval Station Everett, now Snohomish County’s second-largest employer, through the 2005 BRAC Commission review of Department of Defense recommendations to realign or close military installations.
• Work for tax policies that balance the need to provide essential services and minimize the relative tax burden on business by lowering workers’ compensation costs to be competitive with other states; reform the state’s unemployment insurance program; increase B&O tax exemptions to support small and struggling businesses and simplify or lower rates for all businesses; align state estate tax rates to the same schedule as the federal estate tax; and eliminate automatic annual increases in the state’s minimum wage.
• Support sufficient investment and long-term funding for transportation, utilities and telecommunications that will meet 21st-century demands by:

1. Expanding and promoting transit-oriented mixed-use development in areas proximate to key employment centers.
2. Supporting efforts to enhance the transportation investment that began with the 2003 “nickel package,” including freight mobility projects, new funding for the Transportation Improvement Board, flexible funding for transit and replacement funding for funds repealed by Initiative 776, which eliminated the vehicle license fee.
3. Supporting transportation projects and services that improve the mobility of people and goods; opposing legislation that increases the cost of providing this mobility.
4. Supporting the Regional Transportation Investment District and legislative changes that will make its establishment and success possible.
5. Supporting additional revenue for the transportation projects of cities and counties.
6. Supporting legislation that expands air, rail and marine services to employers seeking improved access.
7. Supporting innovative funding solutions that use public/private partnerships.
8. Supporting legislation that ensures low-cost power for Snohomish County employers.

In addition, the agenda calls for support of liability and tort reform, including medical malpractice. It also:

• Urges legislative revisions that reduce unnecessary health-care regulations, most particularly mandated benefits, and allows insurers to offer a range of affordable basic health-care plans and greater choices for small-group employers.
• Supports educational reform, addressing the critical importance of early-childhood learning and the rising demand for PK-12 and higher education, providing access for qualified individuals from all socioeconomic groups, and developing and sustaining an educated, trained work force.
• Encourages a culture change within state regulatory agencies that recognizes the necessary teamwork of regulators, businesses and environmental concerns to promote economic development while protecting the resources of the state. Recommendations include programs that streamline permit review processes, provide written and predictable standards, and reform the Department of Ecology’s environmental permit review process.
• Seeks expansion of economic development tools such as tax increment financing, tax incentives for high-technology and biotechnology industries, and a reconvening of the Economic Climate Study Advisory Board to ensure appropriate current economic indicators.

A complete copy of the 2005 Legislative Agenda is available at www.everettchamber.com.

The 2005 legislative session will be an important one for business issues. It is critical to our region’s economic future that we continue to address business challenges that obstruct our ability to fairly compete nationally and internationally. At the same time, we urge careful and thoughtful stewardship of our state’s economic resources.

By actively working with our legislators, the chambers’ Joint Government Affairs Committee hopes to be a positive catalyst for change — change that helps ensure a more stable economic future for our entire county and state.

Louise Stanton-Masten is the president and chief executive officer of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce. For more information on the chamber, go online to www.everettchamber.com.

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