The legislative session cleared its first major hurdle Friday with the deadline for policy bills having to make it out of committee.
The headlines for last week were dominated by the final revenue forecast before the House puts its finishing touches on its budget proposal, showing the state will have an extra $250 million to $274 million at its disposal to help put the budget to bed this year. That won’t be enough to break the loggerheads between the Senate Republicans and House Democrats on state spending, but as House Appropriations Chair Ross Hunter put it, it makes “a difficult problem slightly less difficult.” Hunter said the earlier forecast won’t bump up the release of the House budget proposal, however, which is still scheduled to come out in late March.
Gov. Jay Inslee signed a $218 million supplemental budget on Thursday, paying for wildfire costs, as well as addressing some human services expenditures.
The Senate Transportation Committee passed a $15 billion transportation package backed mainly by an 11.7-cent increase in the gas tax, along with debt and fee increases. Gov. Jay Inslee’s package is tied to revenue from his cap-and-trade proposal. Would Democrats in the House try and split the difference, by offering up a hybrid – a smaller gas tax increase that would accompany a charge on carbon pollution? Several Democrats on the Senate Transportation Committee offered up just such a model as amendments to the main package, without success.
That leaves a broader issue to address: How far will Inslee’s cap-and-trade proposal go? Both HB 1314, cap-and-trade, and SB 5735, Sen. Doug Ericksen’s alternative, have made it out of committee. Cap-and-trade is awaiting a hearing in House Appropriations, while Ericksen’s bill is in Senate Rules. Something to keep an eye on this week. The house of origin cutoff is March 11.
QUOTES AND LINKS:
“Loch Ness has its monster. The Pacific Northwest has Bigfoot. And elections have their own mythic creature, feared though seldom seen, who lurks large in the fevered imaginations of candidates, would-be pundits and some paranoid partisans. It’s the mischief-making crossover voter,” writes the L.A. Times’ Mark Z. Barabak, casting doubt on the popular myth that crossover voters – partisans switching parties in open primaries, like Washington’s, to bolster a weaker candidate – are a prevalent problem. Extensive research in California finds that’s not at all the case, he wrote.
“The way the system works, every time you actually do something like pay for a cost-of-living adjustment, you’re actually increasing the cost on local districts,” Frank Ordway of the League of Education Voters tells the News Tribune’s Melissa Santos, explaining how state-funded pay increases can swell local school districts’ budgets as well.
The Associated Press broke a major story Sunday, reporting that the U.S. may experience an average of 10 oil train derailments annually over the next two decades, according to federal government analysis obtained by reporters Matthew Brown and Josh Funk. A train derailment in West Virginia last week caused an explosion and the evacuation of hundreds of residences. The derailment alone added significant momentum behind legislative proposals in the House and Senate to increase planning and response efforts, as well as up regulatory scrutiny on the trains. It’s hard to see the Legislature failing to act on the issue this year. The bigger question, however, is what Gov. Inslee will do in approving or denying a proposed oil terminal pitched by Tesoro and Savage Cos. in Vancouver.
WIRE FEATURES:
Rep. Carlyle takes another swing at tax incentive disclosure law
Will traffic gridlock be enough to break legislative bottleneck on transportation funding?
Spat over solar power leaves tangle of bills needing to move before cutoff
In spending packages, reform-minded Senate Republicans see chance to overhaul state government
BILLS TO WATCH:
Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim
HB 1763: Introduced by Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, the bill wants to make music licensing companies register with the state before they could pursue music licensing fees from bars, nightclubs, and other venues that host cover bands playing copyrighted music. The bill passed the House Business and Financial Services Committee Feb. 17, and now goes to the General Government and Information Technology Committee. It’s seen concerns from the copyright companies, arguing the provisions would pre-empt federal law and are thus unconstitutional. It also requires 24-hour notice before copyright compliance visits can happen, giving cover to get the businesses in compliance by shuffling their playlist.
HB 1923: Introduced by Rep. Hans Zeiger, R-Puyallup, and Rep. Steve Bergquist, D-Renton, the legislation would create “income-share agreements” in Washington state, which are alternatives to student loans where students could agree to pay a percentage of their future earnings in exchange for the money they need to attend college. The bill passed the House Business and Financial Services Committee Feb. 18, and now goes to House Appropriations.
Reps. Steve Bergquist, D-Renton, and Hans Zeiger, R-Puyallup
Senate Ways and Means will hear a bill from Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, and Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, that would reduce tuition rates at the state’s university system, estimated to cost $226 million but in need of a funding source. Monday’s hearing at 1:30 p.m. may shed some light on the financial feasibility of the legislation.
Rep. Jessyn Farrell’s oil train legislation has a hearing in House Finance at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, but could be taken up at the same time Wednesday. The committee is also scheduled to vote on Chair Reuven Carlyle’s tax preferences legislation at the Tuesday hearing.
With a Friday deadline for bills to get out of fiscal committees in the House and Senate (policy bills with budget impacts), most of the agendas are up in the air in terms of timing and scheduling for key legislation.
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