the official blog of the evergreen freedom foundation

Just when we thought the issue had blown over, the Worker Privacy Act has somehow found its way back into the supplemental operating budget.

 

The Worker Privacy Act, (or Employer Gag Bill, as we like to call it) didn’t even make it on the table this legislative session. Instead, lawmakers decided to wait and see if a similar bill passed in Oregon last year would survive the legal challenges filed against it by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  In addition, political heat still emanating from 2009 gave legislators reason to put this bill on the shelf until things cool off.

 

Not only that, but our state AG issued a statement last July proclaiming that the bill is preempted by federal law which protects an employer’s freedom of expression as long as it doesn’t threaten punishment or promise benefit to an employee.

 

Just today, Jocelyn McCabe of AWB announced on their blog that upon reviewing the 2010 Senate operating budget proposal, AWB General Counsel Kris Tefft found a scaled-back version of the gag language inserted in a striking amendment by the House. The language would apply to employers or service providers who receive DSHS funding.

 

McCabe cites the troubling language of SB 6444 as the following:

 

“No employer, provider, or entity receiving state funds to provide long-term care services or services to the developmentally disabled may use these funds to assist, promote, or deter union organization.”

 

According to our own General Counsel, Mike Reitz, this bill is fraught with substantive and procedural problems.

 

“The legislature cannot amend substantive law in an appropriations bill, especially when the subject matter was previously contained within separate legislation that ultimately failed. The prohibition on ‘logrolling’ is to prevent the legislature from changing the law in a lengthy budget bill without adequate public review—which seems to be what the legislature is doing here,” Reitz says.

 

H/t to “The Piper” for drawing our attention to this matter.