King County has passed legislation to mandate a $4 an hour hazard pay increase for grocery employees in the unincorporated areas of King County. Like Seattle’s, $4 hazard pay that was passed last month, this is likely to result in store closures as happened in Seattle after the $4 increase took effect.

The stores closing are an unsurprising development, given the razor thin profit margins grocery stores typically have, and answers the question the Washington Policy Center posed earlier last month – “Did Seattle go too far with its over-regulation of business?” The answer, unfortunately, is yes.

The Northwest Grocery Association and the Washington Food Industry Association said in a press release in response the council ruling,

"It is unfortunate that days after Governor Inslee’s announcement prioritizing grocery workers for the COVID-19 vaccine the King County Council can’t allow this critical safety measure to first be implemented. NWGA and WFIA have continued to say that extra pay does not make workers safer, vaccines do. Passing an unfair, illegal, and burdensome pay increase that jeopardizes neighborhood grocery stores will do nothing to make grocery workers safer. We encourage King County to focus on prioritizing vaccine distribution to the grocery workers in their communities."

The new law, and now the closure of the QFC stores in Seattle, clearly demonstrate why government should not be interfering with the free market.

The ordinance should be repealed before more stores are forced out of business.