Hearing for HB 1706 will be tomorrow in the Senate Committee for Labor and Commerce.  We have several groups, advocates, self-advocates and families in agreement that this bill is harmful for a variety of reasons.

First of all, there is no accurate information available regarding how many people are paid a special wage, how many are paid a sub-minimum wage and how many certificates have been issued by the State Labor & Industries.  The US Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor lists about 3 times as many certificates as the State L&I reports.  On top of that, Developmental Disabilities Administration reports completely different numbers.

Much more to be commented on later but the very fact that there are such discrepancies in the numbers of people affected and with no information regarding their person-centered plans, it would be extremely irresponsible of our legislature to make any policy decisions based on so many unknowns.