House Bill 1622 and SB 5422 are bills that will require public employers (like state agencies and libraries) to negotiate with public employees before adopting any artificial intelligence system that could affect our members’ working conditions. The Office of Financial Management opposes the bill in its current form, saying that negotiating would slow down the state’s ability to implement new technology, and it’s good enough to bargain about the impacts after new AI technology is already in place.

This is the same kind of “move fast and break things” mindset that is causing chaos in the federal government right now. When executive management decides that efficiency is more important than helping people, they undermine missions of their agencies and hurt the people doing the actual work.

To stop OFM from unilaterally implementing AI tools, please sign in by 12:30 TODAY (2/24) for HB 1622 and 12:30 TOMORROW (2/25) for SB 5422.

TAKE ACTION on HB 1622 and SB 5422 1. Go to the House committee sign-in page here for HB 1622 . 2. Make sure that “HB 1622 Collective Bargaining/AI Use” is selected, then click “I would like my position noted for the legislative record” 3. On the next screen, select “Pro” as your position in the drop-down menu, then fill in the rest of the fields. Make sure that the “organization” field is either blank or says “WPEA” – don’t enter the name of your employer. If you aren’t comfortable providing your phone number (which is a required field), you can use WPEA’s number: 360-943-1121. 4. Click “Submit Registration” 5. Repeat steps 1-4 for the Senate with SB 5422 . 6. You’ve done it!

Thanks for raising your voice to protect the integrity of your work.

You can learn more about the AI bills from the Washington State Labor Council’s one-page brief . Do you have concerns about how AI could impact your work? Email them to Seamus Petrie (seamus@wpea.org ) with the subject line “AI Concerns” and we’ll add them (anonymously) to the growing list we’re sharing with lawmakers.