Long-term care legislative actions, and predictions about the WA Cares Fund, continue. Yesterday, The Center Square wrote, “Sen. Mark Mullet predicted that the governor would announce a delay and the legislature will codify that as soon as possible.” Better yet, Mullet, D-Issaquah, said in a call to the media outlet, “... the problems with the program may be so nettlesome that they cannot be worked out for some time to come.” 

Indeed. That’s why the WA Cares Fund needs to be repealed, not just delayed. Creating a regressive payroll tax for a long-term care benefit many workers in our state may never need, and others who do need long-term care will never qualify for, does not solve the long-term care problem in Washington state. 

​​”Mullet predicted that the governor’s office will announce a suspension of the tax ‘just before Christmas,’” The Center Square writes.

Some legislators are rightly expressing the need for repeal. And last week, Republican Rep. Peter Abbarno of Centralia pre-filed a bill to abolish the fund and its payroll tax. (See the proposed legislation here and my analysis of it here.) The next day, another repeal bill, Senate Bill 5503, was pre-filed by Sen. Mark Schoesler, R- Ritzville. “I think there’s nothing inherently wrong with long-term care, but this vehicle is so flawed, it can’t be salvaged,” Schoesler was quoted in a story by KIRO Radio. His legislation would create a joint legislative committee to look into private-market alternatives to the state’s new long-term care program.

We’re glad to see bipartisan discomfort with the WA Cares Fund at the legislative level. Taxpaying workers in our state have been uncomfortable about the coming loss to their income for months.

Update on Dec. 17:  In January 2021, Sen. Mike Padden introduced Senate Bill 5234 to deal with the problematic law. The bill never moved. It included a repeal of the payroll tax and would have required a vote of the people on the act.