Initiative 1082 is being touted as a simple reform with few ramifications. Don’t believe it. I-1082 would effectively end Washington’s public non-profit workers’ compensation system and damage our fragile economy.

While many of the details about how I-1082 will be implemented are left to an unelected “task force,” one thing is clear: I-1082 would cost the state’s small businesses millions of dollars while exempting workers’ compensation insurers from providing basic consumer protections.

In any contract, you have to read the fine print. A cursory reading of I-1082 will lead you to determine that, in its own haphazard way, the initiative is sweeping in its breadth, sloppy in its details, and narrow in its benefits.

Many share frustrations with Labor & Industries. But the issue before us is whether I-1082 is a good deal for our businesses, our workers and our citizens. I submit that there are very troubling consequences of I-1082:

In the current system, employees pay a portion of their workers’ compensation premiums. That would go away under 1-1082 and employers would shoulder the entire amount. And there’s no guarantee that businesses would ever recoup this increase through lower rates in the future. Vote ‘No’ on 1082.

Alex Fryer

MIHS Class of 1986, Communications Director No on 1082