Join WSLC on Feb. 5-6 at the State Capitol

Come to Olympia for WSLC legislative reception, lobby day, rally 

OLYMPIA — The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO will host its 2020 Legislative Reception and Lobbying Conference on Feb. 5-6 at the Hotel RL (Red Lion) in Olympia. On Thursday, Feb. 6, conference attendees will be bused to the State Capitol steps to participate in the Rally for Safety & Privacy at 10 a.m. before seeking out their state legislators to urge their support of pro-worker legislation.

2020 LEGISLATIVE RECEPTION & LOBBYING CONFERENCE — All union leaders, staff, and especially rank-and-file members are invited to attend these WSLC legislative events on Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 5-6 to learn about the important labor issues before the 2020 Legislature. They will be at the Hotel RL (Red Lion), 2300 Evergreen Park Dr. SW in Olympia. (Online registration is now closed, but you can still register by emailing Willa Kamakahi or calling her at 206-281-8901.)

Early registration begins at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at the hotel. All registered attendees are invited to attend an optional “Lobbying 101” training from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Then the WSLC Legislative Reception will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. This is a great opportunity for union members to meet and mix with legislators, other elected state officials, and agency directors and staff in an informal setting.

The following morning, Thursday, Feb. 6, the WSLC Legislative Lobbying Conference begins at the hotel at 8:30 a.m. — registration opens at 7:30 a.m. — with a brief review of the most pressing issues facing working families. Then delegates will take buses to the State Capitol building for the Rally for Safety & Privacy at 10 a.m. (details below) and to meet with their legislators on these issues, as well as those important to their specific unions. Buses will return delegates to the hotel for lunch and a quick debriefing, and delegates will be finished by about 2 or 3 p.m.

A registration fee of $110 per delegate covers the cost of the Legislative Reception, transportation to/from the Capitol, and lunch and materials for the Legislative Lobbying Conference.

Read more about the WSLC’s 2020 Shared Prosperity Agenda here.

RALLY FOR SAFETY & PRIVACY — Join Washington’s public employees and their supporters as they speak out to protect their families’ privacy and safety. Under the Public Records Act, their home addresses and certain other personal information are supposed to be kept private. But in 2019, the courts ruled that their birth dates are public information. This exposes all public employees and their families to identity theft, stalkers, and others who may want to target them at home.

HB 1888 updates the Public Records Act to add birth dates to the personal data kept private. On Thursday, Feb. 6, join public employees and union members for a brief 10 a.m. rally at the State Capitol steps in Olympia. Participants will then seek out their legislators and urge them to approve HB 1888 and other pro-worker bills.

Download, post and share this rally flier.

More information about HB 1888

Take Action Today! — Please send a message to Washington state legislators and urge them to approve HB 1888 to protect public employees’ privacy and safety. Click here to send a message today. Please edit the message with your personal thoughts and stories about why it’s important to protect the privacy and safety of the people who’ve chosen a career in public service.

Protect public employee privacy, safety by passing HB 1888 — HB 1888 would protect the privacy and safety of Washington’s public employees and their families, as intended in the voter-approved Public Records Act, and it would do so without harming government openness and accountability. The PRA needs to be updated to account for modern technology that makes it easy to harass, threaten and harm public employees. That means adding birth dates to the list of personal data exempted from disclosure.

Newspapers take the low road with opposition to HB 1888 (by David Groves) — Two years ago, Washington’s newspapers aggressively opposed a bipartisan attempt by state legislators to exempt themselves from much of the Public Records Act. They succeeded and Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed the bill. In my opinion, it was a righteous cause.

This year, newspapers are aggressively opposing HB 1888, a proposal to add public employees’ birth dates to the list of information exempted from public disclosure. This time, the newspapers’ cause isn’t so righteous. Their arguments are not only weak and dismissive of public employees’ legitimate privacy and safety concerns, they are parroting cynical anti-union talking points to try to kill this legislation.