2 Worker’s Comp Fixes at Odds in Washington State

Rep. Mike Sells didn’t mince words. The Everett, Wash., Democrat doesn’t plan to allow a hearing in his committee on a state Senate bill that would allow settlements for injured workers under the state’s compensation system. “It’s not a well written bill,” Sells said this past week, arguing that a House package is a better way to save the embattled system money. Sells’ statement is the latest skirmish in the fight over fixing the state’s workers’ compensation system, a permanent battle ground between business and labor interests that has taken a central role in the Legislature after a state audit last year pegged parts of the system as insolvent.