Doing the same thing and expecting different results

Ron Muzzall, Senator

Paid family and medical leave, while a good idea, has run into complications – the state-run fund for the program is insolvent.

The Employment Security Department, responsible for collection of the taxes and payment of benefits, let legislators know shortly after the start of the 2022 legislative session that the fund will have a deficit by the end of March. Funded by a payroll tax, the program provides new parents or people caring for sick loved ones a financial lifeline, but demand has outpaced supply. Despite the rate increasing at the beginning of 2022, it has run a deficit for seven out of the last eight quarters, spending three years’ worth of taxes in under two years. Though the tax rate was raised at the start of 2022, it wasn’t soon enough to head off disaster.

I can’t say I’m shocked, but I’m certainly frustrated with how this agency overseeing billions of tax dollars continues to fail people when they need it most. Since joining the Senate, I’ve focused my efforts on nonpartisan issues of structure, discipline and accountability – something sorely missing in Olympia. The pandemic has highlighted the need for more of this, but the Legislature, which is responsible, has done a poor job of delivering. These efforts are further impeded by a poorly written emergency powers statute that hampers the Legislature’s oversight of state fiscal policy.

Repeated missteps at ESD during the pandemic are inexcusable. The agency came under fire in early 2020 when first rolling out paid family medical leave benefits. Payments were delayed by as much as 10 weeks. This was followed by its failure to provide Washingtonians with unemployment benefits during the pandemic in a timely fashion.

Lax internal controls enabled a security breach that sent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to overseas scammers. ESD’s attempt to correct the problem resulted in desperate unemployed workers being targeted with identity theft. This agency also had a hand in the rollout of the problematic WA Cares long-term care program. Charged with processing exemptions, it was dogged by website crashes and lengthy delays. This session, the Legislature will need to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from the state general fund to underwrite ESD’s mismanagement.

Sadly, it seems this is a pattern in which high-profile state agencies overseeing critical programs continue to fail, yet are immune from any accountability. Why?

I believe that Washingtonians should be able to actually count on these costly programs, but that won’t happen without real reform.

The Legislature must reassert its oversight in a meaningful way to provide structure, building a framework of expectations and imposing clear metrics of success under which agencies must operate.

They cannot expect the Legislature to tacitly approve of their failings or bail them out when they have mismanaged the public’s money.

I expect that state government does the job it is charged to do with the resources provided.

I will demand answers and fight for an honest and transparent accounting of how agencies are performing.

It is not a partisan issue, it is common sense.

We simply cannot continue to do the same thing and expect different results.