OLYMPIA — The Association of Washington Business today issued the following statement regarding this morning’s decision by Gov. Gregoire, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and House Speaker Frank Chopp to prevent a vote on Senate Bill 5446 or House Bill 1528, better known as the Worker Privacy Act:

“Today’s decision to shelve the Worker Privacy Act will allow the Legislature to focus their efforts on revitalizing the economy and resolving the state budget,” said AWB President Don Brunell. “Legislators should put this issue behind them and turn their attention to the budget and how they plan to resolve the $8 billion state deficit. Our members are deeply concerned about proposals to generate any new taxes or add new costs that would make it even more difficult to keep their shop doors open.

“The Worker Privacy bills are counterproductive to the challenges at hand. Workers are already protected by state and federal law from inappropriate coercion by employers in matters of politics, religion and unionization. And the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that a similar law passed in California last year is unconstitutional,” added Brunell. “These bills would just chase jobs and investments to other states, and that is the wrong message to send to employers given where we are with the economy.

“It’s time to move forward and focus on solving the bigger issues at hand.”