Equal pay for equal work easily clears the Washington State House again

More progress out of Olympia to report today.

The Wash­ing­ton State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives has once again over­whelm­ing­ly approved a bill that would address pay inequity in the work­place, send­ing its ver­sion over to the Sen­ate, where it is cer­tain to get a bet­ter recep­tion than in the past thanks to the cham­ber’s new Demo­c­ra­t­ic majority.

2SHB 1506 is prime spon­sored by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Tana Senn (D‑41st Dis­trict: Mer­cer Island, Belle­vue, New­cas­tle, Renton).

“At a junc­ture in time, when we have removed the shroud of silence on sex­u­al harass­ment, so must we elim­i­nate the secre­cy around wages,” Senn said dur­ing floor debate. Sen­n’s bill would ban pay secre­cy poli­cies and make it much eas­i­er for women in the work­place to dis­cuss their com­pen­sa­tion with each oth­er. It also pro­hibits employ­ers from retal­i­at­ing against employ­ees for hav­ing such dis­cus­sions or for inquir­ing about their pay. It is long over­due legislation.

The vote on final pas­sage was six­ty-nine to twen­ty-eight. All Demo­c­ra­t­ic mem­bers vot­ed in favor, while the Repub­li­can cau­cus was split.

The roll call was as follows:

2SHB 1506
Workplaces/gender pay equity
House vote on Final Passage
1/17/2018

Yeas: 69, Nays: 28, Excused: 1

Vot­ing Yea: Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Apple­ton, Bergquist, Blake, Caldier, Chap­man, Clib­born, Cody, Doglio, Dolan, Eslick, Fey, Fitzgib­bon, Frame, Good­man, Graves, Gregerson, Grif­fey, Haler, Hansen, Har­ris, Hayes, Hud­gins, Jink­ins, John­son, Kagi, Kil­duff, Kir­by, Klo­ba, Kraft, Lovick, Lyt­ton, MacEwen, Macri, McBride, McCabe, McDon­ald, Mor­ris, Muri, Orms­by, Ortiz-Self, Orwall, Pel­lic­ciot­ti, Peter­son, Pet­ti­grew, Pol­let, Reeves, Ric­cel­li, Robin­son, Rodne, Ryu, San­tos, Sawyer, Sells, Senn, Slat­ter, Smith, Springer, Stam­baugh, Stan­ford, Steele, Stonier, Sul­li­van, Tar­leton, Tharinger, Valdez, Walsh, Wylie, Young, Speak­er Chopp

Vot­ing Nay: Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Barkis, Buys, Chan­dler, Con­dot­ta, DeBolt, Dent, Dye, Har­grove, Harmsworth, Holy, Irwin, Jenkin, Klip­pert, Kretz, Kris­tiansen, Man­weller, May­cum­ber, McCaslin, Orcutt, Pike, Schmick, Shea, Stokes­bary, Tay­lor, Van Wer­ven, Vick, Volz, Wilcox

Excused: Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Nealey

Most of the Repub­li­cans vot­ing in oppo­si­tion to 2SHB 1506 were men, although there were a few Repub­li­can women opposed, notably Liz Pike, who deliv­ered a rather harsh and hyper­bol­ic speech in oppo­si­tion short­ly before the vote.

Found­ing NPI board­mem­ber and Major­i­ty Floor Leader Gael Tar­leton (D‑36th Dis­trict: Seat­tle) sub­se­quent­ly rose and elo­quent­ly spoke to the need for the bill just before Speak­er Pro Tem Tina Orwall opened the roll call machine.