The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2025 History: “Neutralize Elderly Voters” Nancy Altman Social Security is the most popular and effective program in America, and Wall Street has spent decades on a campaign to undermine the people’s faith in the system. Think we’re exaggerating? A right- wing think tank called for a “Leninist Strategy on Social Security” back in 1983. Reading it today, much of that strategy looks just like reality. In 1983, Social Security was in a real crisis. But the system’s popularity protected it from destruction, much to Wall Street’s disappointment. Wall Street sees our Social Security system as a cash cow that they can’t access. They want to get their hands on Social Security’s $2.8 trillion trust fund, which is instead invested in US Treasury Bonds. So Wall Street–funded conservative think tanks got to work, outlining a long-term strategy to chip away at the public’s confidence in Social Security. And it was extraordinarily successful. The right-wing Cato Institute published a plan in 1983 called a Leninist Strategy1, designed to “neutralize” elderly voters while continuing to undermine confidence in Social Security among the young. The strategy had two main prongs: Make younger Americans lose faith that Social Security will keep its promise to them, and create an alternative in the form of private accounts that could be gambled on the stock market, similar to 401(k)s. The strategy took a decade to be mainstreamed by the Republicans. In 1988, a presidential candidate sharing his views about Social Security appeared on the scene. Former Delaware governor Pierre S. “Pete” du Pont IV, an heir to those who had thrown money at any FDR-hater they could find, sought the Republican nomination for president and ran on a platform of privatizing Social Security. But George H. W. Bush won the Republican nomination and the election that year. As president, he showed his understanding of the program when he said, “In my budget plan, I say we’ve got to control the growth of . . . mandatory programs but set Social Security aside. It’s not a welfare program. It’s sacrosanct.” In 1994, the House of Representatives returned to Republican control for the first time in over 40 years, the first time since Eisenhower was president. The Republicans had run in support of the “Contract with America,” drafted and promoted by Congressman Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). Unfortunately for those opposing Social Security, the Contract with America expressed implicit support for the program by proposing only minor modifications. However, in 1994, as the law had required since 1956, the Secretary of Health and Human Services appointed 14 members to serve on Social Security’s quadrennial advisory council. The trustees had begun to project a long term deficit in Social Security’s financing occurring somewhere more than 35 years in the future. Included in the report was an appendix, entitled “Developments Since 1983,” which addressed the causes of the projected shortfall. The appendix began by debunking the myth that the inexorable tide of aging baby boomers had anything to do with the projected deficit. The report clarified: “the fundamental ratio of beneficiaries to workers was fully taken into account in the 1983 financing provisions and, as a matter of fact, was known and taken into account well before that.” The report then explained that the shortfall resulted from a variety of factors. By the time the advisory council reported, almost 31 million workers participated in 401(k) plans, which contained assets of over $1 trillion. As the stock market went up and up in the 1990s, these arrangements became more and more popular. This was the opportunity the Leninist Strategy envisioned. More and more Americans were becoming used to private accounts for retirement income. The Cato Institute formed the Project on Social Security Privatization on August 14, 1995. A co-chairman of the project was José Pinero, the Pinochet Minister of Labor who had designed the Chilean system of private accounts. Just as supporters of private accounts had been doing since almost the moment Chile had privatized its Social Security program, Cato touted the Chilean system as a model for the United States, despite its decidedly mixed results. The new right-wing project fueled privatization talk with publications and conferences. In less than a decade, the project could proudly boast that it had “published more than forty books, articles, and reports” criticizing Social Security and advocating private accounts. During these years, Social Security produced large surpluses, as it had been projected to do when the 1977 and 1983 amendments had been enacted—but the federal deficit grew to record deficits. On March 7, 1999, the wealthy governor of Texas announced that he was forming a committee to explore a run for the presidency. Despite his limited political experience and his weaknesses as a speaker, he had one huge asset. He happened to be the son of a former president, and the two men shared the same first and last names, George Bush. Well before Bush formed his exploratory committee, he had been thinking about the presidency and had been thinking about Social Security as well. He had a long history of hostility to the program. As a student at the Harvard Business School in the early 1970s, he had railed against Social Security and other New Deal programs. In his losing bid for a congressional seat in 1978, he had ventured that “people [should] be given the chance to invest [Social Security] the way they feel.” The patience of the anti-Social Security forces seemed to have paid off. They finally had a president who seemed to see the world their way. Despite Social Security’s absence from the campaign, President Bush established a presidential commission, on May 2, 2001, to study and make recommendations about Social Security. The members consisted only of people who were dedicated to destroying Social Security’s universal promise, and it resulted in Bush’s privatization scheme. Unlike most presidential commissions, which are given broad guidelines within which to work, this commission was to be tightly constrained. Among the stipulations dictated by Bush was that the commission’s recommendations “must include individually controlled voluntary personal accounts.” It was not a commission to consider what should be done; rather, it was a commission to advise the president how to do what he had already made up his mind to do. At the same time, Bush used the ad- ministration of government to sow distrust in Social Security. Though Trustees Reports between 2001 and 2004 grew slightly more optimistic, with the projected year of exhaustion of the trust funds slightly further into the future, Social Security Administration publications became more alarmist. No longer confirming that Social Security faced “no immediate crisis,” the publications now warned that the program was “unsustainable,” and “under financed.” Most disturbing was the change in the annual statement sent to all of the 125 million workers aged 25 and over who pay into the trust funds. This statement, completely unsolicited, simply arrives in each worker’s mailbox. The 2001 statement proclaimed, “Will Social Security be there when you retire? Of course it will.” This reassurance was gone by 2002. And in 2005, the unsettling remark “Congress has made changes to the law in the past and can do so at any time” was now in the mailing, just in case workers were feeling too secure. The same tactics are being used today. Republicans in Congress are systematically underfunding the Social Security Administration, forcing office closings and longer wait times to receive the world class service Americans are promised. George W. Bush set the agenda for Trump and Elon Musk: Pass a massive tax cut, then try to cut Social Security in the name of fiscal discipline. Of course, Bush’s gamble failed. But privatizers learned a lesson from that. Instead of hashing it out in public, where Social Security’s overwhelm- ing popularity protects it, Wall Street learned to sharpen their axes behind closed doors – just like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are doing right now. This isn’t a new fight – it is the same thing we have been fighting for almost a century. With our voices together, we beat Bush’s privatization scheme, we beat the neo-liberal drumbeat of President Obama’s fiscal commissions, and we’re going to beat Trump and Elon Musk. The way we win is to go on the offense. We need to EXPAND Social Security and never cut it. Nancy Altman is President of Social Security Works, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Pension Rights Center, a member of the Boards of Directors of the Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund, Latinos for a Secure Retirement, and the Institute for America’s Future. < Back to Table of Contents

I Can't Look Backward, I Can't Look Forward, Part 3 Dina Burstein and Mohamed Ibrahim discuss his immigrant experience. Read

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents August 2025 Here Is a Guide to Make it Easy to Submit Comments Opposing EPA Revoking the Endangerment Finding on Greenhouse Gases Anne Shields Comments Due by Sept 15. Let’s Overwhelm Their Inbox! rump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a proposal to revoke the endangerment finding and vehicle emission standards for greenhouse gases (GHG). The proposal relies on fringe science and misinterpretations of the law tojustify a conclusion that the EPA should not regulate GHG. Here is the link to submit your comment to EPA by September 15: https://www.regulations.gov/commen ton/EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194-0093 Mom’s Clean Air Force has provided a template and examples that you can use in writing your comments: 1. Introduction & ask: My name is [NAME] and I’m from [STATE]. I urge EPA not to rescind the Endangerment Finding. This rule is crucial to protect our communities and future generations from the impacts of climate-warming pollution. 2. Tell your story: Share how extreme weather and cli- mate change is impacting you and your family, your community, your future, or yourchildren’s future. How have you and your family and community been impacted by wildfires, floods, extreme heat, orother extreme weather? What do those impacts look like? 3. Include a few facts, for example: · Climate change is caused by green- house gases emitted from burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.These gases trap heat in the atmosphere and warm the planet, supercharging dangerous extreme weather. · More intense and more common extreme weather can lead to worsened asthma, allergies, respiratoryillnesses, adverse birth outcomes, Lyme disease, economic costs, and much more. · In 2024, the US had 27 climate disasters that each caused over $1 billion in damages( Climate.gov ). · Today’s children are expected to face 3 times more extreme weather disasters than their grandparents(Earth. org). 4. Close your comments by restating your opposition: Once again, I strongly oppose this proposal to rescind the Endangerment Finding. The EPA needs to fulfill its mission of protecting human health and the environment. To learn more: See Third Act’s online Action Alert about EPA’s authority and obligation to limit deadly greenhouse gases: https://thirdact.org/act/urgent-tell-the- epa-dont-gut-the-climate-rule-that- protects-our-health-and-safety/ Earth Justice has a brief, straightforward legal analysis describing what revoking the rule would mean: https://earthjustice.org/experts/hana-vizcarra/a-legal-analysis-of-the-trump-epas-plan-to-revoke-the-endangerment-finding Anne Shields is a member of Third Act and an active member of PSARA's Climate and Environmental Justice Committee < Back to Table of Contents

Rev. Dr. Robert Jeffrey, Sr. Jayza Duhon Celebrate Juneteenth with PSARA Saturday, June 14, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. New Hope Missionary Baptist Church PSARA welcomes all to our annual Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 14, from 1–3 p.m. We are honored to hold our event at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, located at 124 21st Ave, Seattle. The Rev. Dr. Robert Jeffrey, Sr. and his congregation have graciously allowed us to have this celebration at their beautiful historic Black church in the heart of Seattle’s Central District. Our theme this year is “With Hope We Unite, Resist, and Overcome.” The Juneteenth holiday celebrates the historic day of June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Texas to declare the end of slavery, some two years after Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Today, as waves of racial hostility and injustice sweep across our country, we gather on this day to stand together and lift each other’s spirits while we renew our commitment to resist and overcome racism and hatred. Our celebration includes presentations by Rev. Jeffrey, Sr., MLK Labor leader Shaunie Wheeler, PSARA leaders Claude Burfect and Larry Gossett, and musical performances by members of the New Hope Choir and soloists Jayza Duhon and Laila West. We will have books on display, curated by Rhonda Gossett, and refreshments for attendees. We are grateful to the Abe Keller Peace Education Fund for a generous donation to help us put on this event. Please join us on June 14 at 1:00 p.m. for this special event! BACK TO THE ADVOCATE

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents October 2025 Trump Tariffs and Stagflation: Why TACO is the Least Bad Option Robert Pollin (reprinted from Left Hook Economics) The first obvious step right now for fighting stagflation is for Trump to dump his tariff policies. Is stagflation—the toxic blend of high unemployment and high inflation—taking hold now in the U.S. economy? The most recent evidence mostly signals “yes.” If stagflation is on the way, we can mainly thank President Donald Trump’s imposition of unprecedented tariffs—that is, taxes on the products we import from more than 90 countries. The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that only 106,000 jobs had been added to the U.S. labor market between May and July. This represents a nearly 80% drop in job growth relative to the 474,000 jobs created over the same three-month period last year. Meanwhile, wholesale prices spiked by 0.9% in July, the largest monthly wholesale inflation increase since May 2022. It was in response to the dismal May-July job report that Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, after claiming, without evidence, that she had “rigged” the numbers to make him look bad. How could Trump’s tariff polices produce stagflation? According to the Yale Budget Lab, as of July 30, U.S. consumers are facing an average import tax/tariff rate of 17.5%, the highest since 1934. At the same time, imports account for 14% of overall purchases in the U.S. economy. Therefore, if the average 17.5% tariff rate were simply passed on, dollar for dollar, to U.S. consumers, this alone would raise average prices in the United States by 2.5% (that’s 17.5% x 0.14 = 2.5%). But price increases resulting from the tariffs don’t need to be confined to imported products only. This is because higher prices for imports create cover for businesses to raise prices on domestically produced goods and services as well, enabling them to boost their profit margins. Of course, nobody forces businesses that sell imported products to raise their prices. The alternative is for them to pay the tariffs to the U.S. Treasury and then just eat their average 17.5% cost increases by cutting their profits. Obviously, businesses would much rather raise prices before letting their profit margins shrivel. Why should employment conditions also get worse in this situation? This is because businesses worry that the tariffs will cut into their profits. They therefore hold off on plans to expand their operations and hire new people. To date, the Trump program to combat stagflation has two prongs. First, cook the government data to make reality disappear. Second, lambaste Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve (which is the US central bank, and commonly referred to as “the Fed”), into cutting interest rates. Trump regularly ridicules Powell as a “stiff,”“numbskull,” or “moron” for not having cut interest rates so far. Most recently, Trump also began attacking and demanding the resignation of Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a member of the Fed Board of Governors and a Biden appointee. Trump and company claim that Cook committed mortgage fraud in 2021, before she joined the Fed. Cook vehemently denies the charges and insists that she will not resign. Trump’s real purpose here is to replace independent voices at the Fed with loyalists who will toe his policy line, whatever that line happens to be. In fact, by maintaining relatively high interest rates to fight inflation, Powell, Cook, and the other Fed policymakers are only following the standard Fed playbook. The aim with high interest rates is to slow the economy and increase unemployment. The higher unemployment rate then weakens workers’ bargaining power, which lowers labor costs for businesses, enabling businesses to maintain their profit margins without raising prices. Thus, it is baked into the standard Fed inflation control program that working people are the designated sacrificial lambs, even if their wage increases have not caused the inflation in the first place. Trump’s tantrums aside, there are indeed major problems with this standard Fed approach. To begin with, workers gaining excessive bargaining power has never been the driver of stagflation in the United States. In the 1970s and early 1980s, stagflation resulted because global crude oil prices rose roughly tenfold between 1973 and 1980, from $3.56 to $39.50 a barrel. The only other bout of stagflation was after the COVID lockdown was lifted. In this case, stagflation resulted because the production of major items, like new cars, had been cut during the lockdown conditions. Demand for cars then returned quickly when lockdown conditions lifted, but with new cars in short supply, used car prices rose by 40%. From a longer-term perspective, we also have to remember how the U.S. working class has fared, on average, under the 50 years of neoliberalism that preceded Trump. The most central facts are that average wages for nonsupervisory workers are basically where they were 50 years ago, at roughly $50,000 per year (in 2024 dollars), even while average worker productivity has increased by 150%. Meanwhile, over this same 50-year period, average CEO compensation has risen nearly tenfold, from $1.5 million to almost $15 million. In fact, in a major August 22 speech, Powell signaled that, at its next official meeting in September, the Fed is likely to modestly reduce the main interest rate that it controls (the federal funds rate), due to mounting evidence of worsening employment conditions. As Powell knows well, this will accomplish nothing to reduce the inflationary pressures created by Trump’s tariffs. In other words, through deploying the Fed’s main policy tool of manipulating interest rates, you can either reduce inflation through raising unemployment or reduce unemployment at the cost of higher inflation. What you can’t do is combat both sides of stagflation—inflation and unemployment—at the same time. The first obvious step right now for fighting stagflation is for Trump to dump his tariff policies. We shouldn’t rule that option out. Trump didn’t earn the nickname TACO—“Trump Always Chickens Out”—for nothing. But even if Trump does chicken out on the tariffs, we will still be stuck at square one in terms of advancing inflation control policies that also enable U.S. workers to get the long-overdue raises they deserve. Robert Pollin is Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents July 2025 4,000 Attend No Kings Event at People’s Park, Tacoma! John Alessio Our Vote, Our Choice, Our Power, Our Voice!” “Power to the People, We Insist-Billionaires Should Not Exist!” “Say it Once,Say it Twice, We Will Not Put Up With ICE!” These are just a few of the chants heard at People’s Park Saturday, June 14th. PSARA joined Indivisible Tacoma and many other organizations to create an informative, riveting, and festive event on “No Kings Day”. Other participating groups were: 350 Tacoma; AF- SCME Council 28; Evergreen Resistance Tacoma; Black Panther Party, The TSM Shop; Jewish Voice for Peace Tacoma; La Resistencia; Rainbow Center; The Tacoma Urban League; LD27, LD28, and LD29 Democrats; Oscar’s Enemies; Pierce County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO; Pierce County Immigration Alliance; Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America; Tacoma Fellowship of Reconciliation; Tacoma for All; Tacoma Veterans for Peace; The Conversation 253; Washington Wildlife First; and United Food & Commercial Workers Local 367. Careful planning included meetings and continuous communication between the leaders of many of these organizations to assure a safe and meaningful protest of the Trump administration’s immoral and unconstitutional activities. Preparation included de-escalation training sessions that resulted in a roaming Safety Team during the event. A First Aid Sation was created, with drinking water, snacks, and other relevant supplies. Various groups had their own information booths, plus a booth for sign-making, and even a face painting booth. People’s Park was humming with excitement and enthusiasm. Four thousand people, peacefully demonstrating, were completely rapt for two and a half hours listening to inspiring speeches about what is being done, and what still needs to be done, to stop Trump and his minions from destroying our democracy and inflicting more grievous harm on large segments of our population. The event started and ended with lively protest music, and there were clever chants interspersed throughout. The importance of local elections was emphasized, and people were encouraged to get involved by door-knocking, providing support to progressive candidates, and especially voting in the upcoming 2025 Primary on August 5 and again in the General on November 4th! Action events were announced, such as a June 18th “Door-Knocking for Introverts” to help people become effective doorknockers. On July 9th Indivisible Tacoma endorsed candidates will participate in a Candidate Forum at 6:30PM at Tahoma Unitarian Universalist Church, 1115 So. 56th, Tacoma. La Resistencia and others will continue to strategize and call for united actions against the activities of ICE and the Northwest Detention Center - a critical court hearing is set for September. Some people may want to attend the “Breakfast With the Sheriff” meetings to remind Pierce county Sheriff Keith Swank that Washington state laws protect people from unconstitutional harassment and arrest. The next scheduled breakfast is 7-9AM Saturday, June 21st. We know he would love to see us. A Facebook message to a friend read: “I was at People’s Park with my brother who is blind and paralyzed on his left side. We had the best day. He felt part of society.” That statement captures the mood and inclusive spirit of the Tacoma “No Kings Day”. Let’s keep it going! John Alessio is a member of PSARA and Indivisible Tacoma. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2026 The Fight for Medicare in 2026 Robby Stern The attack by the Trump administration and their Republican sycophants on healthcare coverage will land with tragic consequences on a very large number of people in the US. With compassion for the suffering caused by the Trumpian attacks and determination based on belief in social and economic justice, the movement for Improved Medicare for All will grow and become more and more vocal. Meanwhile, our fight to preserve and expand original public Medicare will continue, as will our educational work exposing the consequences of for-profit Medicare Advantage (MA) and the introduction of the WISeR pilot program. We know the drive for increasing profits leads to abuse and fraud by the insurance companies. Requiring frequent prior authorizations (more than 50 million in 2024), upcoding, cherry picking and lemon dropping (i.e. offloading sicker patients), and offer-ing a limited network of providers are all about profit. The growing trend of large corporations like United Health Group owning subsidiaries like Optum that employ provider networks and/or pharmacy benefit managers create multiple opportunities to extract profit from the Medicare Trust Fund. Their practices will continue until we build a strong enough movement to stop them. The WISeR pilot program began on January 1, 2026 in Washington. That’s bad news. It expands the use of prior authorization in Original Medicare, adding 17 procedures. It also introduces the use of private, for-profit corporations to determine whether these 17 procedures will be covered by Medicare. These corporations are required to use AI to make the determination and will be paid a larger reimbursement for denials. The good news is that our education and advocacy work has been very effective, and our members have made a big difference. Most recently, Sen. Patty Murray introduced S. 3480, a bill prohibiting the Secretary of Health and Human Services from implementing the WISeR pilot program in Medicare. There are 18 Senators co-sponsoring the legislation including Sen. Cantwell. Sen. Murray’s bill is companion legislation to Rep. DelBene’s legislation in the House. HR 5940 also bars the Secretary of Health and Human Services from implementing WISeR. Introduced in November, HR 5940 has 38 co-sponsors, including all the Democratic representatives in Washington, except for Rep. Glusenkamp Perez. We will try to get her support in 2026. It is unlikely these bills will pass in 2026, but they are a good organizing tool. Our work in 2026 will include building momentum to end WISeR before the scheduled six-year termination date. PSARA is a member of the national Reclaim Medicare Coalescence, which includes a number of organizations that have a significant presence in Washington, DC, and wide national outreach. The coalescence has adopted as a goal the introduction of the Level the Play-ing Field legislation, hopefully in 2026. Members of the coalescence also play a major role in researching and exposing the abuses of the Medicare Advantage corporations, and they advocate for regulations and legislation to put an end to these abuses. We are all working to terminate WISeR, and many of the organizations in the Reclaim Medicare Coalescence support Rep. Jayapal’s Improved Medicare for All legislation (HR30069). Here are some things our members can do to help in the coming year: Help us find venues where we can educate and advocate about leveling the playing field, about achieving Improved Medicare for All, and ending the abuses and fraud of Medicare Advantage. If you or someone you know has a personal story of problems related to the healthcare being provided by a Medicare Advantage plan or if you are on Original Medicare and have a personal story related to the use of prior authorization in the WISeR program, please email organizer@psara.org to let us know. Personal stories are powerful. We will not use your name unless you give us permission. When you receive emails urging you to contact elected officials, please continue to respond with action. For example, we will be working to have legislation introduced in Congress to level the playing field related to benefits between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. We are educating and advocating for the legislation to set an affordable cap on out-of-pocket costs in Original Medicare, making it unnecessary to purchase Medigap insurance. It will also include hearing, dental, and vision coverage. When the legislation is introduced, we will need assistance in getting co-sponsors from the Washington Congressional delegation. In the state legislature we will be educating and advocating for the passage of SJM 8002, which puts the state legislature on record calling for Congress to stop the fleecing of the Medicare Trust Fund by Medicare Advantage and level the play-ing field between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. We want Medicare beneficiaries to have a real financial choice between the public plan and the private for-profit plans. We will also support efforts to restore the cuts to Medicaid. Will Parry, the former inspirational leader of PSARA, would frequently sing the song "Carry It On," made famous by Joan Baez. In 2026, we will resist attacks on Medicare and Medicaid and demonstrate there is a better way. We will carry it on. Robby Stern is President of the PSARA Education Fund and a member of PSARA's Executive Board. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents July 2025 Rural Protestors Urge Senate to Kill Trump Medicaid Cuts Tim Wheeler Senior citizens stood near Clallam County’s only full service public hospital, June 7, holding signs proclaiming “85% of OMC Patients on Medicaid, Medicare” and chanting “No Cuts to Medicaid or Medicare.” The vigil, initiated by PSARA, attracted 18 participants who lined First Street a couple of blocks south of the Olympic Medical Center (OMC), a public hospital that serves 111,000 on the isolated, rural Olympic Peninsula. The protesters held up their signs and waved as passing motorists honked and gave thumbs-up salutes. In the crowd were two candidates for the OMC Board of Commissioners constantly struggling with millions of dollars in debt due to the low reimbursement rates for Medicare and Medicaid. The vigil was in protest against President Trump’s “Big Beautiful” budget bill passed by the House and now pending in the US Senate. The bill would inflict $715 billion in cuts to Medicaid and $300 billion in cuts to the SNAP nutrition programs to defray the trillion dollar tax cut for billionaires and millionaires. Laurie Force, a retired nurse and a candidate in the August primary for the OMC Board, was holding a sign as was her husband, Larry, whose hand-lettered message was “Stop the Steal.” Her campaign slogan is “A Force For OMC.” The other candidate for the OMC Board, Dr. Gerry Stephanz, Medical Director of the Olympic Peninsula Community Clinic, pointed out that Trump’s budget bill is a grave risk to rural hospitals across the nation, including the OMC, that are totally dependent on Medicare and Medicaid payments to stay afloat financially. OMC, he said, should file to be designated a “Rural Health” provider, like the hospital in Port Townsend. If recognized as a rural hospital that provides life and death services to more than 100,000 people, OMC would enjoy far higher reimbursement rates for the 85% of its patients now covered by Medicaid and Medicare. The vigil took place one week after a “town hall” meeting, also organized by PSARA at the senior Shipley Center in nearby Sequim. Speaking at the Shipley Center in Sequim on May 24, PSARA leaders Robby Stern and Anne Watanabe urged fightback against President Trump’s so-called budget “reconciliation” bill that will inflict hundreds of billions in cutbacks to Medicaid, the SNAP food stamp program and other human needs benefits while handing trillions in tax cuts to themselves and their billionaire cronies. Said Watanabe, “The GOP ‘big, beautiful bill’ means that by 2034, 8.6 million lose health insurance because of cuts. Another 5.1 million lose health insurance through loss of tax credits….13.7 million total will lose healthcare insurance.” She cited the disastrous impact the cuts would inflict in Clallam County where 20,866 children, 38 percent of youngsters, are protected by Medicaid and 21 percent of those 55 years or older. In neighboring Jefferson County 7,641 people, over 29 percent of children and 27 percent of those 55 years are older are enrolled in Medicaid. Rural hospitals, she said, like the Olympic Medical Center (OMC) in Port Angeles that serves 111,000 people, are at grave risk of closing or losing their public status, being privatized through merger with private for-profit hospitals like Providence, a Catholic hospital chain that bans abortions and other reproductive health care. These hospitals, she charged, are being forced into bankruptcy due to ruinously low reimbursement rates for their Medicaid and Medicare patients. In the past twenty years, 200 rural hospitals across the nation have been forced to close due to this crisis in rural America. OMC is the only full service hospital in an isolated region two hours drive from Silverdale or Tacoma and a long ferry ride from Seattle. Treatment for a heart attack or delivery of a baby is care needed instantly not after a two hour drive. Enactment of the Trump-MAGA budget bill will be a death sentence for tens of thousands of low income people, children, immigrant and native-born alike. Already approved by the House, Stern and Watanabe urged the crowd to bombard the U.S. Senate with mes- sages demanding the Senators vote down the budget scam, the most sweeping attack on federal human needs programs ever. Both Stern and Watanabe addressed the issue of defending traditional Medi- care from privatization by so-called “Medicare Advantage.” Stern described in detail the life-threatening struggles by PSARA member Richard Timmins, of Whidbey Island, who was forced to undergo intense treatment for skin cancer because his so-called Medicare Advantage (MA) provider refused to approve in time treatment by a dermatologist despite his physician’s recommendation. By the time the MA provider reversed course and approved examination, the tumor had metastasized into cancer. Stern told of his own family forced to file multiple appeals against a Medicare Advantage provider to win skilled nursing coverage for a parent/ grandparent in a nursing home. Medicare Advantage was authorized in 1982 said Watanabe. “The intention was to lower the cost of Medicare and improve outcomes for patients. So what happened?” Corporate insurers paid a per patient capitation fee, seek to inflate their profits through massive overcharges, false claims, "upcoding" in which patients are over-diagnosed to allow MA providers to receive higher capitated payments from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The total overcharges by MA is estimated to be $80 billion to $140 billion annually. Much of this corrupt profiteering has been exposed by the MEDPAC, a commission that oversees Medicare and Medicaid. PSARA is part of a nationwide coalition seeking to preserve Medicare against privatization by “leveling the playing field,” enacting reforms that allow traditional Medicare to offer the same extra benefits offered by MA like dental, vision, and hearing, and capping out-of-pocket costs for traditional Medicare enrollees. PSARA also supports “Medicare For All” or universal publicly paid healthcare for every person in the U.S. native born and immigrant, said Watanabe. Ellen Menshew, a member of PSARA and also Chair of the Clallam County Democratic Party (CCD), and Lisa Dekker, an Outreach Vice President of PSARA from Clallam County, introduced the guest speakers from Seattle. Dekker told the crowd that PSARA members and other volunteers are standing in front of the Federal Building in Port Angeles every Friday at 1 p.m. to protest the Trump-Musk attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid focused now on demanding that the U.S. Senate reject the MAGA-Trump budget bill. It was Memorial Day weekend and many in the crowd came directly from a “Hands Off Our Veterans” protest by hundreds at the main intersection in Sequim denouncing cuts by Trump and unelected Elon Musk to the Veterans Administration, and sharp reductions in healthcare and other benefits for war veterans and their families. In the audience were members of PSARA from Sequim, Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Gig Harbor, and Tacoma. US Army vets, and active union members were present. Tim Wheeler is a veteran activist, journalist, and a leader of PSARA's Clal- lam County organizing committee. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents April 2025 It’s a Stew Midway Legislative Report Pam Crone Every legislative session has a distinctive flavor. The 2025 session is no different. What is the flavor of the 2025 session? It’s a stew. Brand new Governor Ferguson bringing his own style of governing and priorities. Huge budget deficit projected over the next four years. Loads of new senators and house members. Uncertainty at the federal level and potential impacts on the state, both policy-wise and fiscally. How this will all come together is a mystery at this time. As of the writing of this article, we are a little over halfway through the session. More will be revealed as the session progresses. We haven’t seen a budget deficit like the one we are facing this year since the lean years of the great recession beginning in 2008. Most of today’s legislators have never had to reckon with the prospect of massive cuts to essential public services. These days there may be more appetite for progressiverevenue, but we shall see. We still have a number of priority bills from our original 2025 legislative agenda moving, as well as some casualties of the first chamber cut-off in March. Do note that everything that passed its house of origin must go through the same process in the other house. If the bill passes both chambers, its final form must be the same before it can go to the Governor for signature. Still Alive and Kicking SJM 8002 Protecting Original Medicare and Leveling the Playing Field passed the Senate 30-19. SJM 8004 Supporting efforts to advance Universal Healthcare passed the Senate 30-19. SB 5291 Strengthening and Protecting WA Cares passed the Senate 38-11. HB 1217 Ensuring reasonable and more predictable rent increases passed the House 53-42. HB 1491 Creating affordable housing close to transit passed the House 58-39. HB 1213 Extending job protection in the Family and Medical Leave Program passed the House 55-41. SB 5041 Extending unemployment benefits to striking workers passed the Senate 28-21. SB 5284 Improving solid waste management by reducing the use of plastic wrap and containers passed the Senate 27-22. Casualties SB 5344/HB 1523 Ensuring quality affordable healthcare for nursing home workers. SB 5626/HB 1773 Providing wage replacement (unemployment benefits) to undocumented workers. SB 5541/HB 1661 Building eco- nomic security through WA Future Fund Pilot Program. SB 5768/HB 1214 Expanding the Working Families Tax Credit. SB 5439 Divesting WA State In- vestment Board funds from fossil fuels (No Coal Act) SB 5380/HB 1303 Increasing environmental justice by improving government decisions (Curb Act) The 2025 session is the first session of the two-year biennium. Bills that die in 2025 spring to life again in 2026, so there is still hope. Yet to heat up will be budget discussions around creating a balanced budget with revenue rather than making cuts to essential services. PSARA will be part of the advocacy effort around progressive revenue. The May Retiree Advocate will carry a review of the wins and losses of the 2025 legislative session. As always, stay well, active, and engaged. Democracy is not a spectator sport. Pam Crone is a retired lobbyist and the Chair of PSARA's Government Relations Committee. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents April 2025 Entrenching Oligarchy and Inequality: Budgets and Taxes Why are Tax Cuts to Oligarchies necessary? Michael Righi What is happening in the economy may be just background music at the moment, as the Trump administration attacks civil liberty, immigrants, and the rule of law. But it rhymes. Trump and co-president Musk are acolytes of Ayn Rand (not that Trump ever read anything). In their eyes, there is no such thing as society, only heroic individuals exercising power. The role of government is to protect these individuals, then get out the way. Drown government; privatize everything. Trump, DOGE, and Republicans are working together to cut government programs and cut taxes for the wealthy. And they lie a lot, since none of this is in the interest of non-wealthy Trump voters. They really need a tax cut? House Republicans are proposing a $4.5 trillion extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, many of which are set to expire at the end of the year. That would be a $60,000 tax break for the 1 percent and less than $500 for the bottom 60 percent. That $500 is less than the likely price increases of Trump’s tariffs. Lie #1: The 2017 tax cut (including a corporate tax cut that is not scheduled to expire) would lead to economic growth, trickle-down wage increases, and increased tax revenue. It did not happen. And now there isn’t even much trickle-down rhetoric, just naked greed. According to budget rules, Republi- cans will have to come up with spend- ing cuts to make up for revenue loss if the tax cut is extended. Enter ketamine- fueled Elon Musk and his DOGE coding goons. Lie #2: He promised $2 trillion in sav- ings by eliminating government “fraud and waste.” (There are too many lies. We’ll stop counting.) DOGE is firing government workers and eliminating agencies (e.g., USAID, Consumer Finance Protection). There are 2.3 million federal workers, a whop- ping 2 percent of the labor force. The number has remained steady since 1970. They make $106,000 on average. If Musk fired every last one, that would be about $250 billion. So, where can he get $2 trillion? Not from “defense.” We’ll need it to take over Canada, Panama, and Greenland, and to continue funding Israel. Yes, of course, Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security. Severe cuts in Social Security staffing are already making it difficult to get benefits that are due to folks. Republicans are threatening $80 billion cuts in Medicaid grants to the states. Is this just “austerity theater,” to rev up MAGA devotees? Maybe. It’s the “liberal” agencies that are being attacked first. Or is it that DOGE is central- izing decision-making, using chaos as a cover, to enhance Trump’s autocratic executive power. Maybe it’s both. Of course, there is indeed govern- ment waste and fraud. Overpayments to Medicare Advantage insurance companies amount to $83 billion a year. We pay way too much (twice as much as other countries) for Big Pharma drugs. There is a huge uncollected “tax gap” of $700 billion a year, wealthy tax cheats not paying what they owe. One dollar spent on hiring IRS auditors and enforcement personnel yields $12 in revenue. Now there’s efficiency! Of course, Trump is slashing the IRS. The government is going bankrupt? Republicans know that extending Trump’s tax cuts will increase the bud- get deficit. Supposedly they care about that, as the party of fiscal prudence. More lies and theater and hypocrisy: they care if it’s more spending on child- care or medical care. They don’t care if it’s a tax cut for the rich. The federal government budget defi- cit is $1.8 trillion. The national debt is $35 trillion, close to 100 percent of GDP, as high as it was during WWII. Those are big numbers, but not a crisis. US government debt, Treasury bonds, are perfectly safe investments. So far. But why is the national debt so large, and rising over past decades? For some good reasons and one bad one. When banks tank the economy, as in 2008, government spending and budget deficits are needed to revive it. The same was true for the Covid crisis, to support families. Otherwise, unemployment and misery would soar. The bad reason is tax rate cuts for the rich that began with Reagan, reducing the country’s tax base and the progres- sivity of the tax system. Thus increasing inequality. Is a high national debt a problem? No, it’s not a crisis, but it is used as a weapon by right-wingers to oppose expansion of the US’s already meager social welfare state. And tax cuts for the rich leave them with money to buy government bonds, on which they get interest paid by the rest of us. The news may look sometimes like a bunch of people in clown costumes throwing spaghetti at a wall. But there are serious consequences. Flashing little cards, as Democrats did when our oligarch-in-chief was speechifying and lying, will not cut it anymore. Michael Righi is a retired economics professor and a member of the Retiree Advocate editorial board. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents September 2025 Philippines Remains Trump’s Ally Cindy Domingo While Donald Trump and his foreign policy team continue to strain relations with countries around the world, US-Philippine relations were further strengthened in the recent state visit to Washington DC by Philippine President Bong Bong Marcos in late July. The visit comes at a very important political time, as Trump’s war against China continues to escalate and the US vies for political power in the Asia Pacific region. Marcos is the first Southeast nation president to visit the US during Trump’s second term. Marcos’ close relationship is a 180-degree turn from the previous Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte strengthened bilateral Philippine-China relations that resulted in concrete China support during the Covid-19 pandemic, increased economic trade and investments, and Chinese- funded infrastructure projects. It remains to be seen if Marcos’ friendly relations with the US will help bolster his popularity amongst the Philippine population. Midway into a six year term, Marcos’ popularity, according to the well-respected Pulse Asia March/April survey, has plummeted to 25% approval rating, 53% disapproval, and 22% no opinion/undecided. In the same survey, Marcos’ arch enemy and embattled Vice President, Sarah Duterte, received a 59% approval rating – an increased rating many believe is related to online and in-person organizing related to the opposition of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest of Rodrigo Duterte. The elder Duterte is currently being held in the ICC’s jail awaiting trial for crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, and torture, as related during the period of November, 2011 through March 2019 as pertaining to Duterte’s “war on drugs.” The fallout between the Marcos and Duterte camps are important for US strategic interests in the Asia Pacific region. Since the beginning of US intervention in the Philippines in 1898, the Philippines became important because of its military positioning to that entire region. Under BB Marcos and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the US has established more US military facilities in the Philippines, including the deployment of missile systems, even though there are no more military bases there. Marcos’ pro-US stance is important for Trump’s aggressive position against China. The recent May Philippine elections reflect a divided country with a newly elected Philippine Congress mainly divided into those two camps. However, a new progressive camp has begun to emerge, breathing hope for democratic economic and political reforms in the Philippines. Led by the only opposition leader in the Senate, Senator Risa Hontiveros from the social democratic Akbayan Party, has succeeded in building a big tent that resulted in the election of three members of the Akbayan Party to the House of Representatives as well as a handful of well positioned members from the liberal and independent parties. These include former Senator Leila De Lima who was imprisoned for seven years by Rodrigo Duterte after she led a Congressional investigation around murders carried out during his war against drugs. This progressive camp has already introduced many democratic reform Congressional bills, but their footing is fragile in light of the dominance of family dynasties as represented by the Marcos and Duterte families. In the previous 19th Philippine Congress, 12 of 24 Senators, 162 of 316 Representatives and 60 of 81 governors were members of political dynasties. It is common to see in one region Congressional members, governors, and mayors from one family representing different generations and jockeying from office to office if there are term limits. The current 20th Congress is almost no different. Therefore, in such a political environment, advancing a progressive agenda still remains a serious challenge. The political dynasties may differ in region and ideology, but they are united by a common interest in pre- serving the status quo. Previous bills to dismantle the family dynasties have met with great resistance, but there is an increasing interest by a new generation of voters. Currently, Millennials and Generation Z compose 63% of the voting population in the Philippines, with the median age of the general population at 26 years of age. According to Josua Mata, Secretary General of SENTRO, a labor center that represents over 100,000 public, private, and informal sector workers, who was in Seattle recently for LELO’s Annual Dinner in June to receive an award for SENTRO workers organizing in a fac- tory making Lululemon wear, stated that the continued growth and revitalization of the Philippine labor movement is crucial to taking advantage of this current opening for progressive forces and deepening democracy in the Philippines. While Trump can continue to rely on the Marcos dynasty to carry out US interests, the next three years leading up to the Philippine Presidential elections will be crucial for US military and economic interests both in the Philippines and in the region. However, if the progressive forces led by Senator Hontiveros can gain momentum, the traditional family dynasties might be facing Hontiveros as a Presidential candidate. Cindy Domingo is one of PSARA's Co-VPs for Outreach, a member of the Retiree Advocate editorial board, and a veteran activist in LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership & Organizing) and APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance). < Back to Table of Contents

Legislative Session Bill Tracker List HB 1214 Expanding eligibility for the working families' tax credit to everyone age 18 and older. In 2025, the bill passed Senate Ways & Means, but did not pass out of Rules. The Working Families Tax Credit, passed in 2021, helps mitigate the regressivity of Washington’s tax code by providing modest credits to low- and moderate-income state residents. Currently the credit is restricted to 25–64-year-olds. Extending it to all income qualifying residents over 18 will give a financial boost to younger and older Washingtonians struggling with affordability. The Working Families Tax Credit program is administered by the Department of Revenue. Income eligibility is based on eligibility for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) which is established by the federal government. Combat Washington’s regressive tax code Provide financial stability to young adults (18-24) and seniors (65+) Reduce poverty HB 1303 Increasing environmental justice by improving government decisions. Sponsors: Senators Lovelett, Trudeau, Hasegawa, Nobles, Saldana, Stanford, Valdez; Representatives Mena, Berry, Reeves, Redd, Ormsby, Salahuddin, Ramel, Pollet, Nance, Doglio and Scott. Formerly known as the Cumulative Risk Burden (CURB) Pollution Act. SB 5380/HB 1303 focus on integrating environmental justice into the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). No matter who you are or where you live, we all deserve to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and be safe from toxic pollution. But across Washington State, communities of color and Indigenous peoples carry the greatest burden when it comes to environmental pollution, affecting their health, well-being, and life expectancy. Why do our frontline communities face these challenges? It’s because of decades of racist practices that placed polluting facilities in our neighborhoods. It’s because of big businesses who were given permits to pollute by our state government. Communities that have historically borne the worst effects of pollution due to redlining and institutional racism shouldn’t have to bear the ongoing harm being inflicted on their health, well-being, and even life expectancy today. Yet under current laws, reviews of project proposals that may have an environmental impact are not required to consider the ongoing legacy of environmental racism and the very real health concerns that our state’s most impacted communities face. HB 1661 Concerning the Washington future fund pilot project. HB 1773 Creating a wage replacement program for certain Washington workers excluded from unemployment insurance. HB 2090 Integrating advanced nuclear energy into the state energy strategy. After review of Senate Bill 5821 we have the following concerns: This legislation is not an analysis of the current state of nuclear power. The legislation as written has no guard rails or limits to the expansion of nuclear power. Advances in nuclear technology that it vaguely references in its justification for adding nuclear power to WA State’s Energy Strategy have not been commercially deployed or fully tested. Most news articles have it deployed no sooner than 2030 – 2035. Based on our reading, if the legislation passes as is it currently written there is no limit to the number of small or large nuclear power plants that could be built in WA State Of particular concern is the management of nuclear waste. Nuclear waste is a liability that has to be handled safely and securely for thousands of years. Any legislation should require development of a life cycle plan and costing for managing nuclear waste. We are not opposed to an independent study that helps us understand better current technologies broadly in energy development. This legislation is not that. It is an attempt by the nuclear industry and other interests to introduce nuclear energy into WA States Energy Strategy. This is premature and deserves further study. HB 2100 Enacting an excise tax on large operating companies on the amount of payroll expenses above the minimum wage threshold of the additional medicare tax to fund services to benefit Washingtonians and establishing the Well Washington fund account. Sponsors: Scott, Mena, Thomas, Reed Parshley, Hill, Ryu, Doglio, Simmons, Peterson, Berry, Pollet. New progressive sources of revenue are essential to safeguard and strengthen programs that keep people across Washington housed, fed, and healthy. The affordability crisis has hit Washington’s working families and seniors hard. Federal cuts, tariffs, and the chaos and fear sown by the current federal administration are further harming our economy and communities. Meanwhile, billionaire investors are enjoying further gains in wealth. More than ever, we need our state government to step up. We can protect state services and our children’s future by finally asking the very wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes. Rep. Shaun Scott and Sen. Rebecca Saldaña are introducing companion bills to create a Well Washington Fund financed by a new tax on our state’s largest employers, amounting to 5% of their payroll on employees making more than $125,000 annually. These additional revenues will help finance health care, housing, higher ed, and nutrition programs that are all now threatened by federal cuts. In November, voters across our state were clear: they support a vision of our state that stands up to Trump, protects our most vulnerable, and invests in shared community prosperity. In 2026, state legislators need to be bold in finally asking Washington’s wealthiest residents to pay their fair share to continue making Washington a great place to live and do business. The Well Washington tax is similar to Seattle’s successful Jump Start Tax. Employers already paying that tax will be able to take a credit off their state tax. Last session, the state legislature passed a 2-year budget that included both tax increases (in capital gains, estate, and business taxes) and major cuts to health care, early learning, education, and other state services. In 2026, they will pass a supplemental budget. We have already seen major cuts in federal funding and will likely face even more cuts in the coming year. We need our state to step up to protect health care affordability, funding for foodbanks and housing, and access to childcare, preschool, and higher ed. Washington’s tax system is highly regressive, with low- and moderate- income Washingtonians paying at far higher rates than the wealthy. Small businesses also pay higher rates than large profitable corporations. Continued growth in economic inequality helps feed the state budget crisis. HB 2103 Authorizing certain public entities to contract for the capability of renewable or nonemitting electric generation projects. Sponsors: Stearns , Parshley , Zahn , Barnard , Ryu , Leavitt , Simmons , Reed , Fitzgibbon , Bernbaum Sec.8.2 requires Agencies to be liable for construction costs even if the energy production facility is not successfully completed: "...means that the contract may provide that the city, district, or operating agency must make the payments required by the contract whether or not the project is completed, operable, or operating and notwithstanding the suspension, interruption, interference, reduction, or curtailment of the output of the project or the power and energy contracted for." "Such contract may also provide that payments under the contract are not subject to reduction, whether by offset or otherwise, and may not be conditioned upon the performance or nonperformance of the operating agency, public or private project owner, or publicly or privately owned public utility, or a city, district, or operating agency under the contract or other instrument." "Washington spent much of the 1970s trying to become a center for nuclear power, with plans for five huge fission reactors at Richland and Satsop. Then came cost overruns, construction problems, and one of the biggest municipal bond defaults in Wall Street history in 1983." Source: Washington Standard January 2, 2026 HB 2105 Concerning immigrant worker protections. HB 2173 Concerning the use of face coverings by law enforcement officers. 2332 Driver Privacy Protection HB 2409 Placing agricultural employees under the jurisdiction of the public employment relations commission for the purpose of collective bargaining. SB 5380 Increasing environmental justice by improving government decisions. SB 5395 Making improvements to transparency and accountability in the prior authorization determination process. Sponsors: Senators Orwall, Muzzall, Hasegawa, Lovelett, Nobles, Slatter House: Reps. Rule, Marshall, Shavers, Pollet, Kloba This legislation is part of an ongoing effort to reduce the negative impact of insurance carrier prior authorization processes on patients' access to care and on the practice of medicine for physicians and health care practitioners. The bill would require the following: Physician-led decisions: Health plans must have medical necessity determinations made by a licensed physician or health care practitioner working within their scope of practice. No AI as sole basis for denial: Artificial intelligence or other tools cannot be the only factor in denying a prior authorization request. Any denial must be made by a human professional. Transparency in decisions: Health plans must identify the person who made the prior authorization determination and provide their credentials in notifications. Reporting and accountability: Health plans must now report more detailed information on prior authorization requests, approvals, and denials, including the percentage of denials that involved AI tools. Prior Authorization is a barrier to healthcare Prior Authorization causes delays and denials of medically necessary healthcare Prior Authorization can lead to treatment abandonment Prior Authorization overburdens physicians and healthcare providers in mounds of paperwork. Prior Authorization decisions by AI and Machine Learning magnify and exacerbate the perils of PA as stated above. SB 5439 Concerning divestment of funds under management by the state investment board from thermal coal. Sponsors: Senators Frame, Lovelett, Hasegawa, Nobles, Ramos, Saldana, Stanford The Washington State Investment Board manages pension funds for 912,000 public employees who work or have worked for the state and in municipalities, public schools, law enforcement and firefighting. The WSIB is required by law to act in the best interest of public employees and retirees. WA Coal Act directs Washington State Investment Board to: Phase out publicly traded investments in coal Halt new investments in coal Report annually on the phase out of coal investments Complete divestment from coal funds by TBA Comply with its fiduciary duty to protect pension retirement funds Coal is damaging to the environment, climate and public health. Coal pollutes air, soil, and water. Human health impacts include cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, kidney disease, mental health problems, adverse birth outcomes, impaired child development, and others. Coal is notorious for harming vulnerable populations disproportionately. The WA Coal Act is necessary to enable the WSIB to avoid future coal investments. The legislature must clarify that investing in coal is not aligned with Washington values and climate goals and is not in the best interest of Washingtonians. The WA Coal Act moves the WSIB to get out of the dirty coal business by phasing out their coal investments while protecting pensioners. SB 5541 Concerning the Washington future fund pilot project. Sponsors: By Request State Treasurer; Senators: Trudeau, Harris, Valdez, Lovick, Salomon, Dhingra, Hasegawa, Kauffman, Wilson (C), Saldana, Ricceli, Frame, Nobles, Slatter House: Stonier, Waters, Goodman, Reeves, Fosse, Bronoske, Paul, Salahuddin, Leavitt, Doglio, Obras, Street, Reed, Cortes, Ramel, Thomas, Parshley, Simmons, Timmons, Shavers The Washington Future Fund Coalition and members of the Washington Future Fund advisory committee have worked for years to establish a “baby bonds” program called the Washington Future Fund that would create wealth-building opportunities for Washingtonians living in generational poverty. A baby’s future economic security is largely determined by the amount of wealth they are born into - nearly HALF of babies in Washington are born into poverty. Children in rural areas of our state and those who are Black, Latinx, or Indigenous are more likely to be born into families with little or no wealth, hindering future economic opportunities and financial stability. Establishes a small-scale pilot of the WA Futures Fund granting $25,000 to individuals who would have received the benefit to use on a wealth building activity including going to school, creating a business or purchasing a home. Would provide important data to evaluate how “baby bonds” would increase economic opportunity, reduce wealth disparity, and promote broader economic opportunity, well-being and stability. SB 5626 Creating a wage replacement program for certain Washington workers excluded from unemployment insurance. Sponsors : Senators Saldaña, Lovelett, Valdez, Cortes, Alvarado, Orwall, Kauffman, Slatter, Dhingra, Frame, Hasegawa, Nobles, Stanford and Wilson, C. House:Cortes, Mena, Taylor, Farivar, Berry, Walen, Ormsby, Thai, Stonier, Ryu, Ramel, Macri, Berg, Grege rson, Zahn, Simmons, Scott, Parshley, Salahuddin, Fosse, Duerr, Doglio, Pollet, Reed, Ortiz-Self In Washington state, all workers deserve a safety net if they lose their jobs. Access to public benefits like unemployment insurance (UI) keeps workers and families safe when they face a crisis like job loss through no fault of their own. However, thousands of people in Washington are unfairly excluded from vital public benefits and left without a safety net. Despite the millions in tax contributions that undocumented immigrants pay the state, they are unable to access UI and other vital public benefits when they face hard times. Immigrants are invaluable to Washington’s vibrant communities, robust workforce and healthy economy. Not only are they essential to our workforce, but they are also major tax contributors who help uphold our public programs. It is time that our systems reflect the true value of our immigrant workers. Establishes a Wage Replacement Program to provide benefits to claimants, who are ineligible for unemployment benefits and who meet certain qualifications. Requires the Employment Security Department to select a third-party administrator for the Wage Replacement Program. Creates a Wage Replacement Account to be funded by a wage replacement surcharge on employers and reduces an unemployment administrative rate contribution. Creates an advisory committee to review issues related to wage replacement. It is the just and fair thing to do. All workers and their families deserve a safety net when times are hard. Our immigrant workers and families are under additional stress and pressure. SB 5768 Expanding eligibility for the working families' tax credit to everyone age 18 and older. SB 5821 Integrating advanced nuclear energy into the state energy strategy. After review of Senate Bill 5821 we have the following concerns: This legislation is not an analysis of the current state of nuclear power. The legislation as written has no guard rails or limits to the expansion of nuclear power. Advances in nuclear technology that it vaguely references in its justification for adding nuclear power to WA State’s Energy Strategy have not been commercially deployed or fully tested. Most news articles have it deployed no sooner than 2030 – 2035. Based on our reading, if the legislation passes as is it currently written there is no limit to the number of small or large nuclear power plants that could be built in WA State Of particular concern is the management of nuclear waste. Nuclear waste is a liability that has to be handled safely and securely for thousands of years. Any legislation should require development of a life cycle plan and costing for managing nuclear waste. We are not opposed to an independent study that helps us understand better current technologies broadly in energy development. This legislation is not that. It is an attempt by the nuclear industry and other interests to introduce nuclear energy into WA States Energy Strategy. This is premature and deserves further study. SB 5852 Concerning immigrant worker protections. Sponsors : Senate: Saldaña, Shewmake, Conway, Wellman, Stanford, Hasegawa, Kauffman, Wilson, C., Hunt, Valdez, Slatter, Cortes, Lovick, Lovelett, Alvarado, Chapman, Pedersen, Orwall, Nobles, Clevel and, Robinson, Trudeau. House: Mena, Farivar, Cortes, Berry, Ramel, Fosse, Parshley, Ryu, Stearns, Doglio, Simmons, Peterson Ortiz-Self. The Immigrant Worker Protection Act will provide Washington workers with greater security and guard against abusive ICE practices on the job. Senator Saldaña and Rep. Ortiz-Self are introducing the bill in cooperation with Attorney General Nick Brown. Similar laws have been passed in California, Oregon, and Illinois. The bill will: Require employers to notify employees when the federal administration requests an audit of employment eligibility information: Allow employers to share employees’ personal information with the federal government only when there is a judicial warrant or subpoena; and Remind employers that they do not need to provide federal officials access to non-public areas of the workplace without a warrant. SB 5855 Concerning the use of face coverings by law enforcement officers. Sponsors: Senate:Valdez, Chapman, Lovick, Trudeau, Wellman, Slatter, Bateman, Frame, Cortes, Saldaña, Robinson, Stanford, Kauffman, Cleveland, Nobles, Lovelett, Orwall, Hasegawa, Pedersen, Riccel li, Shewmake, Alvarado, Wilson, C., Hunt House:Cortes, Reed, Salahuddin, Parshley, Tharinger, Hall, Fosse, Ryu, Callan, Mena, Kloba, Ra mel, Simmons, Scott, Stearns, Peterson, Berry, Pollet The bill would ensure proper identification of law enforcement by requiring officers to wear or display official insignia, uniforms, or badges clearly visible to the public, preventing the use of unmarked cars or anonymous-looking individuals acting as law enforcement. Enhances transparency and accountability: Clearly identifiable officers prevent tactics that resemble "secret police" by making sure the public can see who is conducting law enforcement actions. Discourages the use of intimidation: Officers wearing masks and extreme face coverings create fear, intimidate and terrorize the public. Protects against violations of law: Would prevent federal and local officers from operating in a way that may violate their own agency's rules requiring them to identify themselves when practical and safe. 6002 Driver Privacy Protection SB 6004 Authorizing certain public entities to contract for the capability of renewable or nonemitting electric generation projects. Sponsors: Boehnke , Shewmake Sec.8.2 requires Agencies to be liable for construction costs even if the energy production facility is not successfully completed: "...means that the contract may provide that the city, district, or operating agency must make the payments required by the contract whether or not the project is completed, operable, or operating and notwithstanding the suspension, interruption, interference, reduction, or curtailment of the output of the project or the power and energy contracted for." "Such contract may also provide that payments under the contract are not subject to reduction, whether by offset or otherwise, and may not be conditioned upon the performance or nonperformance of the operating agency, public or private project owner, or publicly or privately owned public utility, or a city, district, or operating agency under the contract or other instrument." "Washington spent much of the 1970s trying to become a center for nuclear power, with plans for five huge fission reactors at Richland and Satsop. Then came cost overruns, construction problems, and one of the biggest municipal bond defaults in Wall Street history in 1983." Source: Washington Standard January 2, 2026 6045 Collective Bargaining Farmworkers SB 6093 Enacting an excise tax on large operating companies on the amount of payroll expenses above the minimum wage threshold of the additional medicare tax to fund services to benefit Washingtonians and establishing the Well Washington fund account. SB 6173 Creating an apple health employer assessment. Sponsors: Alvarado , Robinson , Dhingra , Bateman , Frame , Stanford , Pedersen , Lovelett , Trudeau , Hasegawa , Chapman , Cleveland , Conway , Nobles , Orwall , Riccelli , Saldaña , Valdez , Wilson, C. 6346 Millionaire Tax SMJ 8002 Concerning Medicare. Urge Congress to Level the Playing Field between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Status : Senate Rules (In 2025 it passed the Senate on a party line vote and died in House Rules.) Sponsors: Hasegawa, Chapman, Stanford, Trudeau, Valdez Medicare is a core part of our health care system, especially for seniors, but is in danger. Investors and private insurance companies are taking advantage of lax rules in the Medicare Advantage part of the program to increase profits and drive-up costs – too often by limiting or denying access to needed care. Improving benefits in Original Medicare, the public part of the program, and cracking down on fraud and abuse in private Medicare Advantage programs will save billions in taxpayer money and strengthen our whole healthcare system. 1.5 million Washington residents are Medicare beneficiaries. When first enrolling, people must choose between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Original Medicare has many advantages: beneficiaries can choose almost any doctor or hospital, and rarely experience delays or denials due to prior authorization requirements. However, Original Medicare has a 20% co-pay with no cap, so many purchase supplemental insurance which averages over $200 per month. Medicare Advantage (MA) is private, usually for-profit insurance that has significantly lower monthly premiums than Original Medicare plus supplemental insurance, making it seem more attractive. But its plans have limited provider networks, often require prior authorization, and can end up bein very costly for people needing extensive care. Many seniors opt for MA plans, especially those with limited incomes, disproportionately people of color. However, when they face a complex problem like cancer or a stroke, many discover the doctor or hospital they want is out of network, and insurance gatekeepers frequently delay or deny prescribed care, potentially causing serious harm. Medicare Advantage insurers take significantly more money per beneficiary from the Medicare Trust Fund than Original Medicare, because they do their own risk assessment on each beneficiary and bill the Medicare Trust Fund upfront. Government and academic studies estimate that overpaymentsthrough upcoding, fraud and other abuses cost Medicare between $85 billion to $140 billion annually. SJM 8002 requests Congress to simply create equity and fairness between the two options by: Recouping the billions that the Medicare Advantage corporations have overcharged the Medicare Trust Fund and changing the practice that leads to upcoding, delays, and denials of care. Leveling the playing field for all Medicare beneficiaries by 1) capping out-of-pocket costs and eliminating the 20% co-pays in Medicare Part B that force Original Medicarebeneficiaries to buy expensive supplemental insurance and 2) providing all Medicare beneficiaries vision, hearing and dental coverage.