Washington State Senate Democrats: Steve Hobbs

School bus safety cameras make their debut

Senate Democrats — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:31:00 GMT

An effort to protect school children entering and exiting school buses is off to a modest, but successful start in Spokane.

Senate Bill 5540, sponsored by Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, and signed into law a year ago, gave the state's school districts the option to install safety cameras on school bus stop signs in an effort to catch motorists who fail to stop when the signs are deployed.

“Our state has been lucky in that no children have been killed by motorists ignoring these stop signs,” Hobbs said. “The same cannot be said around the nation. This is a preventive measure. We shouldn’t wait until one of our kids is hurt before doing something about it.”

Spokane’s Central Valley School District is the first district in the state to use the cameras. According to the Public School Employees of Washington, one of the cameras caught eight violators the first day.

“If I see somebody now I don’t have to concentrate on their plate like I did before, now I can concentrate on the kids and make sure they get on the bus and get off safely,” said Mike Carpenter, one of three bus drivers in the Central Valley School District whose buses are equipped with the cameras.

Prior to this program, in order to successfully prosecute a driver who ran a school bus stop sign, a bus driver needed to identify the make, model and year of the car, as well as identifying characteristics of the driver such as gender, age, hair color.

“With the video, the police can see who is telling the truth,” Carpenter said.

According to a report from KREM.com, information about violators will be captured during the pilot period, but no citations will be issued. The district currently reports violators to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department.

“The purpose of this program is not based on issuing citations to create revenue, but to change behavior in drivers,” Hobbs said.

There’s no word yet on when the program will be expanded to other school districts.

WATCH: Hobbs talks about reforming K-12 health insurance system

Senate Democrats — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:32:42 GMT

Sen. Steve Hobbs stopped by TVW recently to discuss his bill to create fairness and transparency within the state’s K-12 employee health insurance system. You can watch the full video below.

Sen. Hobbs’ statement on Sen. Brown’s decision to not seek re-election

Senate Democrats — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:46:00 GMT

Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, issued the following statement in response to Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown's decision to not seek re-election:

"I must admit that the news today that Sen. Brown will not seek re-election caught me off-guard.

“Sen. Brown has a lengthy and dignified record of public service to her constituents and to the entire state of Washington.

“While we did not always see eye-to-eye on every issue, our disagreements were never contentious. Like a true leader, Sen. Brown was always willing to work with everyone regardless of party or difference of opinion.

“There were many issues we agreed on such as marriage equality, women’s health and Apple Health for Kids – it was a pleasure teaming up with her to pursue these causes.”

Governor signs school employee insurance reform bill

Senate Democrats — Wed, 02 May 2012 21:24:00 GMT

Legislation which will bring equity and transparency to insurance programs for K-12 employees such as teachers, classroom assistants, bus drivers and special education teachers was signed Wednesday by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Senate Bill 5940, sponsored by Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, provides an incentive of $5 million to the state's schools districts to meet the following requirements in how they administer health benefits:

· Offer employees the option to enroll in a High Deductible Health Plan with a health savings account;

· Move toward employee premiums so family coverage costs no more than three times the premiums charged for employee-only coverage;

· Offer at least one comprehensive plan in which a full-time employee’s share of premium costs does not exceed the share of premium costs paid by state employees in the PEBB plan;

· School districts must employ responsible procurement standards for all contracts.

If the Office of the Insurance Commissioner determines that a school district does not report the necessary data for two reporting periods, that district will be required to obtain benefits through the Public Employee Benefit Board.

“This bill is about fairness and transparency, but it is also a work in progress” Hobbs said. “There are literally hundreds if not thousands of stories from school employees paying indefensible amounts in health care premiums for family coverage – that must be fixed.

“Taxpayers contribute nearly $1 billion every biennium toward the purchase of insurance benefits. This is an enormous investment that deserves efficient management and oversight; but the lack of transparency prevents this.”

“From the beginning, the goal has been to create fairness for K-12 employees as well as accountability and transparency for taxpayers.”

The current system for classified K-12 workers favors individual coverage over family coverage. Individual employees pay very small or no monthly premiums, while employees covering their dependents can pay premiums that exceed $1,000 per month. Many public school employees – such as bus drivers, janitors, para-educators and lunch room workers – spend more than half their salaries on health insurance coverage. Without reform, these rates will only get worse given continued health insurance inflation expected over the next two years.

Ken Flournoy and his wife Nicole have been employed by the Bethel School District for six years. In 2010, after 14 years away, Ken re-enlisted in the National Guard in order to provide full medical coverage for Nicole and their two kids, one of whom has special needs.

“In this day and age, a family can’t go without insurance,” Ken Flournoy said. “But every year we’ve watched our premiums go up. There comes a point when you have to choose between cutting out the necessities or paying for insurance. That’s a decision no family should have to make.”

School employee insurance reform bill ready for governor’s signature

Senate Democrats — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:59:00 GMT

Senate Bill 5940, sponsored by Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, arrived on the governor's desk early Wednesday morning. The bill provides an incentive of $5 million to the state's schools districts to meet the following requirements to continue to provide benefits:

· Offer employees the option to enroll in a Health Savings Account/High Deductible Health Plan option;

· Move toward employee premiums so family coverage costs no more than three times the premiums charged for employee-only coverage;

· Offer at least one comprehensive plan in which a full-time employee’s share of premium costs does not exceed the share of premium costs paid by state employees;

· School districts must employ responsible procurement standards for all contracts.

If the Office of the Insurance Commissioner determines that a school district does not report the necessary data by one of two dates determined by the OIC, that district will be absorbed into the Public Employee Benefit Board.

“From the beginning, the goal has been to create fairness for K-12 employees as well as accountability and transparency for taxpayers.”

The current system for classified K-12 workers favors individual coverage over family coverage, which can run upwards of $1,300 per month. Many public school employees – such as bus drivers, janitors, para-educators and lunch room workers – spend more than half their salaries on health insurance coverage. Without reform, these rates will only get worse with 10 percent health insurance inflation expected over the next two years.

School employee insurance reform bill passes Senate

Senate Democrats — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:38:10 GMT

Senate Bill 5940, sponsored by Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, received a 29-17 vote, and is a compromised version of SB 6442. The new bill provides $26 million to create parity between the plans for K-12 and other state employees. It also requires school districts to meet the following requirements to continue to provide benefits:

· Offer employees the option to enroll in a Health Savings Account/High Deductible Health Plan option;

· Modifies employee premiums so family coverage costs no more than three times the premiums charged for employee-only coverage;

· Offer at least one comprehensive plan in which a full-time employee’s share of premium costs does not exceed the share of premium costs paid by state employees;

· School districts must meet competitive procurement standards for all contracts.

If the Office of the Insurance Commissioner determines that a school district does not meet these requirements by Dec. 2015 all employees from that district will be placed in the Public Employees Benefit Board insurance plan.

“I look forward to working with the House on the provisions of this bill we’ll have to move and modify. Ultimately we all have the same goals – to create fairness for K-12 employees as well as accountability and transparency for taxpayers.”

Hobbs’ ‘Facebook Bill’ aims at protecting employee privacy

Senate Democrats — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:20:00 GMT

Legislation sponsored by Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, would protect the private lives of employees and potential employees.

Hobbs today proposed a 'Facebook Bill' that would make it illegal for any employer or potential employer in the state to request a password or any related account information for the purpose of gaining access to any social networking site maintained by a current or prospective employee.

“As a society, we are more connected than ever, but that doesn’t mean that employers have a right to read your email or drop by to take a look around your house,” Hobbs said. “There are privacy settings on Facebook for a reason, and demanding access is a major violation of privacy.”

Hobbs said his bill also protects employers. “If an employer were to gain access to an applicants’ page and decide not to hire them, was that decision made because of their age, sexual orientation, religious affiliation?” Hobbs asked. “That has lawsuit written all over it.”

The bill also establishes a fine of $500 and attorneys’ fees for violating the law. Currently similar measures are being considered at the federal level, as well as in the states of Illinois and Maryland.

Hobbs said this is a relatively simple bill and wouldn’t distract lawmakers from their primary duty of passing reform legislation and a state operating budget.

“There isn’t a wrong time to protect privacy and civil liberties,” Hobbs said.

Sen. Hobbs’ amendments add additional remedies and protections for families facing foreclosure

Senate Democrats — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:45:30 GMT

Amendments were added to House Bill 2614 on Monday to continue the work of the Foreclosure Fairness Act (FFA) as well as add additional remedies and protections for other parts of the foreclosure process.

The amendments, advocated for by Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, most importantly allowed for necessary updates to the FFA, which was created last year by the legislature. The FFA is a program critical to providing families the best opportunity to remain in their homes.

Other homeowner protections incorporated into the bill includes a course of action for homeowners who have lost their home due to a mistake in the foreclosure process. Without this change, people who lost their homes due to error had no way to get back in their house.

HB 2614 protects homeowners who agree to a short sale of their home by requiring the lender to notify the seller within three years if they intend to go after the remaining debt on the home within three years.

“Foreclosures are an ongoing issue across our country and throughout our state,” Hobbs said. “We must give families every opportunity to remain in their homes and level the playing field between homeowners, banks and other lenders.”

Without Hobbs’ actions Monday, these critical bills would have fallen by the wayside this session because they were not taken up prior to Friday’s cutoff for policy bills.

Sen. Hobbs: "I still want reform"

Senate Democrats — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:25:00 GMT

Sen. Steve Hobbs spoke on the night of March 2, following a surprise Republican takeover of the Senate floor and the subsequent introduction of a previously unseen Republican budget proposal. In his speech against the Republican budget, Hobbs spoke about the need to pursue further government reforms before any budget proposal was adopted.

Sen. Hobbs talks about transportation projects coming to the 44th

Senate Democrats — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 02:31:56 GMT