Latest news with #SenateBill5104
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trio of immigrant rights laws signed by WA governor
Gov. Bob Ferguson signed a trio of bills on Monday related to protecting immigrants in Washington state. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard) Gov. Bob Ferguson signed three bills to protect immigrant rights this week. These included measures to strengthen state power to inspect private detention facilities, prevent coercion in the workplace, and prohibit bail bond agents from enforcing immigration laws. Lawmakers put forward the legislation at a time when President Donald Trump is trying to crack down on people crossing into the country illegally and as his administration presses to deport immigrants already in the U.S. without legal authorization. Here's a look at what the new state laws would do. State lawmakers have been pushing for greater transparency at the for-profit immigrant detention center in Tacoma. Previous efforts on this front have landed the state in court battles with the for-profit company that operates the facility, The GEO Group. House Bill 1232 is the latest attempt to pave the way for the state's Department of Health to inspect the Northwest ICE Processing Center and enforce compliance with state and federal laws there. It establishes additional standards for such facilities in areas like sanitation, ventilation and medical care, along with new safeguards against abuse. The bill also expands the definition of private detention facilities to include those run by nonprofit organizations after The GEO Group, which runs the Tacoma facility, claimed to be singled out under existing law. The nonprofit Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility, near Spokane, will now join the list of these facilities. Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, sponsor of the bill, said she hopes this legislation demonstrates the state is not targeting a single facility. The law is effective immediately. There is often limited recourse for immigrant workers facing threats or being exploited by their employer. Senate Bill 5104, sponsored by Sen. Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle, intends to give immigrant workers better tools when facing coercion in the workplace. The bill would require the state's Department of Labor and Industries to investigate complaints of coercion and would allow the agency to impose civil penalties when violations occur. Coercion differs from retaliation because it happens before an employee raises an issue. Retaliation happens after the employee does so. During the complaint process, when a worker files a complaint, the department will notify the employer, but language in the bill was added to make a worker's personal information confidential to anyone other than the department and the employee. 'Every Washington worker can and should feel safe to report workplace injustices without fear of coercion or retaliation of any kind,' Ferguson said at the bill signing. The bill would take effect on July 1. Following an incident in January during a public meeting in Sunnyside, a person claiming to be a 'bounty hunter' said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would soon use bail bond agents to arrest people in the U.S. without legal authorization and pay them $1,000 for every arrest. ICE had detained two people in Sunnyside around this time. Senate Bill 5714 would expand the list of unprofessional conduct for bail bond agents to include enforcement of a civil immigration warrant. The Department of Licensing could take disciplinary action against agents found to be in violation. Bail bond agents already largely lacked the authority to get involved in immigration issues. But Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma, said she introduced the bill because 'people can operate right on the boundaries.' The law, she said, will provide clarification about those boundaries and the penalties for crossing them. It would also prevent agents from sharing a defendant's immigration status with anyone outside their business. The bill would take effect on July 27. In addition to the laws the governor signed Monday, the Legislature approved a bill to allow immigrants to use paid sick time for immigration proceedings, which Ferguson signed in April, and a bill to have an expedited pardon process for those facing deportation, which is awaiting the governor's signature. Lawmakers also maintained funding in the budget they approved for a state program that provides health care coverage that mirrors Medicaid to a limited number of immigrants without legal status. Ferguson has still not signed off on the budget legislation.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WA bill intends to protect immigrants from coercion in the workplace
The Washington state Capitol building, Feb. 19, 2024. (Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard) When an immigrant faces threats or exploitation by their employer, they often have limited recourse. Law students from Seattle University want to change that, pushing for a state bill to strengthen protections for people facing workplace coercion based on their immigration status. 'In the last several years, we have been advocating for legislative changes that would help our clients and this is one of those,' said Elizabeth Ford, a law professor who teaches the workers' rights clinic at Seattle University. Sen. Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle, took up this legislation and introduced Senate Bill 5104, to give workers better tools to avoid workplace threats based on their immigration status and to prevent employers from exploiting the immigration status of employees. 'It's a shame that we have to try and find every abusive situation and draft a separate bill to deal with it,' Hasegawa said. An example of workplace coercion would be if an employer notes someone's immigration status and then asks them to work unpaid overtime. The bill would require the state's Department of Labor and Industries to investigate complaints of coercion made against employers and would give the agency the authority to impose civil penalties when violations occur. When a worker files a complaint, the department will notify the employer. However, language in the bill was added to make personal information from the worker confidential to anyone other than the department and employee. 'Employers have so much more power than workers, it's the unfortunate truth,' said Yasmene Hammoud, a law student at Seattle University. 'But when you add immigration status to the mix, the power dynamic and the leverage that the employer gains is incredibly disproportionate.' Similar legislation passed in New Jersey last year with bipartisan support. Concerns came up during committee hearings that the Washington bill may be redundant with existing law. Under current law, citizens and non-citizens are both entitled to the same standards, rights, and protections in the workplace. There are laws on the books that protect any worker, regardless of their immigration status, from retaliation. Angelo Tadrous, a law student at Seattle University, said the bill is still necessary and noted that workplace coercion differs from retaliation because it happens before an employee raises an issue. Retaliation happens after the employee does so. If a worker raises an issue to their employer and the employer responds by withholding wages or rest breaks, that's retaliation. If this occurs, a worker can file a complaint with the Department of Labor and Industries. Most complaints regarding coercion don't get filed until the employee leaves their workplace. 'One of the dynamics of coercion is this, that it silences people. And so that there's a major risk of coming forward, that's why coercion works,' Ford said. The bill was heard on the Senate floor Wednesday and passed on a 40-9 vote. It now awaits action in the House. 'It's incredibly important to safeguard [immigrant] rights and well-being to really allow the labor law to do what it was designed to do, and that's to protect workers across the board, regardless of their immigration status,' Hammoud said.
