Senate Bill 5761 (SB 5761), passed by both chambers of the Washington State Legislature, requires salary ranges to be posted by employers when advertising new job positions. For both employers and potential candidates, the new legislation will only increase employer costs, candidate confusion and create more government oversight where none is needed.

Now California and New York are planning on passing similar legislation. According to the Los Angeles Times, the legislation will help improve women and minority hiring transparency, though no sources for this conclusion are cited.

For an employer trying to hire the best person or an open position, SB 5761 opens the door for litigation if, in a competitive job market, the employer has to offer more than expected for a job. As an example, if the posted job salary range is $40,000 to $60,000 and in order to secure the ideal candidate the employer has to offer more than $60,000, the employer would be in violation of the new law. Likewise, if a candidate didn’t have the right experience and the employer wanted to hire them and train the candidate with the promise of a higher salary later, this would no longer be possible under SB 5761.

The result of SB 5761 will be artificially large salary ranges to allow for candidates that might fall outside of the range. Instead of a range $40,000 to $60,000, an employer might set the salary range from minimum wage, $30,000 to $150,000, dependent on experience. This will only make it harder for a candidate to find the right job.

Despite having a $10 billion budget surplus, the Washington legislature continues to pass socialist style legislation that creates more work and costs for small business owners with no consideration of the true impact to the economy.

SB 5761 is legislation looking for a problem that does not exist and does not help candidates or employers. It will increase costs and make it more difficult for job seekers to be successful in their job search.