With the house of origin cutoff in the rearview mirror, Republican and Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate are taking stock of the most significant legislation the respective chambers passed – while taking swipes at the other side.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, cited the passage of the $15 billion transportation package and SB 5735, and a bill to revamp Washington’s renewable energy standard to focus on carbon emissions reductions, as two of the legislative session’s major bills.
In the House, the state Democratic Party touted legislation that would increase the statewide minimum wage to $12, a major bill referred to as the Voting Rights Act, an act requiring health insurance carriers to cover contraceptives, an act regarding toxics reduction, and the Equal Pay Act which addresses pay discrepancies between women and men.
Now, these bills – and hundreds more – head over to the opposite chamber, where Democratic bills face Republican committee chairs in the Senate if they even get a hearing, and vice-versa in the House. This is also the first time in more than a decade that each chamber is controlled by a true numeric majority of each party. The posturing of the first 60 days shifts to action – whether to kill, pass, or amend the other party’s ideas. Tempers flare, the hearings intensify, and the finish line looms. There’s 41 days to go.
QUOTES AND LINKS:
“It is a tragedy that we are letting people with mental health issues simply rot in jail,” Spokane County public defender Kari Reardon tells the NW News Network’s Austin Jenkins, discussing the delays mentally ill defendants face in county jails awaiting evaluations. A federal trial on the matter is going to start Monday in Seattle.
“We can’t wait any longer; we have to prepare now for drought conditions that are in store for much of the state,” Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday, according to Reuters’ Rory Carroll. Inslee pre-emptively declared a drought emergency for the Olympic Peninsula, the Yakima region, and areas surrounding Walla Walla, due to the state’s abnormally dry and warm winter. The Department of Ecology has requested $9 million in relief from the Legislature.
The Columbian’s Lauren Dake examines the biggest issue facing the Legislature in the last six weeks of the session – whether or not there’s a tax fight looming to fund the basic education obligations spelled out in the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision. “Many on the left have touted the governor’s proposals to tax polluters and institute a capital gains tax as ways to boost the state’s K-12 budget. But Republicans continue to push back and point to an uptick in the economy and increased revenue. Rep. Paul Harris, a ranking Republican, said nobody is talking about McCleary because Democrats don’t have the votes they need to raise taxes. ‘If they could play the card, they would play the card. … Is there a tax fight coming? I don’t feel like it, and I’m being honest,’ he said. But travel across the aisle, and ask Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, the same question: Is a tax fight brewing? ‘Yes,’ she said.”
The Associated Press looks at legislation that would study closing off “coal-by-wire,” electricity created by a Puget Sound Energy-owned coal plant in Montana, and delivered to Washington state customers: “The legislation comes as investor-owned utilities operating in Washington have been under pressure by Gov. Jay Inslee and environmental groups to reduce or eliminate electricity they get from out-of-state coal plants. Washington’s only coal power plant in Centralia is slated to close by 2025. Much of the state’s coal-fired electricity comes into the state from the Colstrip plant in Montana and the Jim Bridger plant in Wyoming. Senate Bill 5874 does not specifically name Colstrip, but it would apply to it. Last month, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock wrote to Inslee and senators, expressing concerns that the bill would have significant effects on his state.”
The Colstrip Power Plant in Montana, owned by Puget Sound Energy and a group of other utilities
WIRE FEATURES:
Cap-and-Trade: Not Just Smokestacks, a Broader Tax Based on Energy Consumption
Inslee Cap-and-Trade Bill to Open Legislative Session’s Second Act
State Senate Warms to Climate Change, Moves First on Carbon Reduction
With $5B Spending Increase, Inslee Cuts to Disability Programs Leads to Criticism
BILLS TO WATCH:
ESSB 5748, Sen. Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island, is carrying this legislation to help the state regain its waiver under the No Child Left Behind Act. The state became the first in the U.S. to lose that last year, ceding control of about $40 million in federal funding as a result. Litzow aims to bring the state’s teacher evaluation system in line with federal standards, but opponents – including the Washington Education Association – say it’s just putting on obligations from an outdated federal law that may soon see wholesale revamping in Congress. Still, it will be interesting to watch how far this effort goes in Democratic-controlled committees.
A series of bills devoted to electric vehicles infrastructure and tax incentives died quietly in the trio of legislative deadlines in the last month: SB 5333, SB 5444, SB 5446, among others. But, the House did send over a bill sponsored by Rep. Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah, that would encourage the Utilities and Transportation Commission to prioritize electric vehicle equipment build-out. And, incentives for electric vehicle infrastructure are a main component of SB 5735. The tax exemption expires in July, and is likely dead for the year.
At 10 a.m. Monday, Senate Government Operations takes up HB 1085, from Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, which would require lobbyists to file reports electronically. It passed the House 85-13 March 5.
Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education has hearings for two of the major Democratic education policy bills, HB 1541 and HB 1295, at 1:30 p.m. Monday. HB 1541 addresses the opportunity gap in the public school system, while HB 1295 would add a “breakfast after the bell” program.
House Environment takes up SB 5057, which is the Senate’s oil train legislation, at 1:30 p.m. on Monday. The Senate Energy & Environment Committee takes up the Democrats’ version on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.
Senate Energy also has hearings planned for HB 1174, which would ban a series of chemical flame retardants from consumer products, at the same time.
At 10 a.m. Tuesday, House State Government will hear a bill from Sen. Mark Miloscia, R-Federal Way, SB 5081, that would create a website devoted to hosting documents relating to the state’s collective bargaining agreements, sole-source contracts, and others.
At 8 a.m. on Wednesday, the same committee will hear SB 5715, a bill from Sen. Joe Fain, R-Auburn, that would add fiscal impact statements into the ballot titles of the so-called “budget buster” initiatives that have gone before voters recently, including the class-size initiative from last fall, I-1351.
On Thursday at 8:30 a.m., House Environment has a work session scheduled on low-carbon fuels standards.
Senate Ways and Means has a work session on school levies Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
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