Hedrick Weekly March 27-31, 2023

Opposite House Cutoff
Wednesday was the opposite house policy committee cutoff when bills from the originating chamber must clear the opposite chambers policy committee and vice-versa. Los of bills advanced out of committee but it is a major day where a lot of controversial bills thought to be major priorities died in committee and will no longer advance this legislative session. 

Fix-it-Yourself
On Tuesday, a proposal that would have compelled manufacturers of technology to make the parts, tools, and manuals people need to fix their own phones and laptops available to consumers died in the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology (EET) Committee. House Bill 1392 by Rep. Mia Gregerson (D-SeaTac), got further along in the process than the idea had in prior years, but did not come to a vote in committee, an indicator it didn’t have the votes among the committee’s Democrats. Technology companies like Apple have been opposed to this proposal for years, raising issues of safety, intellectual property rights, and privacy.

Electrification

Also in the Senate EET Committee was action on a major decarbonization bill, HB 1589, which would prohibit gas companies with more than 500,000 retail gas customers from furnishing or supplying gas to residential and commercial customers. 1589 would only apply to Puget Sound Energy (PSE). PSE wants this bill because it faces heavy compliance costs under the state’s new cap-and-trade system for major emitters of carbon pollution. The company sees opportunity in converting its gas customers to electricity. The bill also envisions that PSE would be allowed to recoup the cost of the existing gas network from ratepayers more quickly. The bill passed the committee on a party-line vote. There is a sizeable business coalition against the bill including the Building Industry Association of Washington and the Washington Hospitality Association. The hospitality association — which represents restaurants around the state —argues it would hurt the development of new restaurants that depend on gas-fired commercial stoves and inflate rents for existing restaurants. PSE has garnered the support of Labor which is large part why this bill is advancing when other bills to restrict the growth of natural gas have failed in past years. 

Shield Law
The Senate State Government and Elections Committee passed a proposal to exempt from public disclosure most records associated with state and school district employees who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment, or stalking. House Bill 1533 by Rep. Sharlett Mena (D-Tacoma), has been controversial as open-government advocates are concerned public officials could shield themselves from transparency. The committee tried to address those concerns with an amendment from Sen. Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue, that creates an exemption from the exemption for reporters seeking records in the course of journalism and requires more proof from people seeking to invoke the exemption. The bill passed the House on a bipartisan vote and is expected to pass the Senate. 

One, Two, ADU
Senate Bill 5235 from Senator Sharon Shewmake, (D-Bellingham) is one of two ADU proposals this session letting homeowners living in more populous cities and counties build backyard cottages or mother-in-law apartments up to 4,500 square feet in their backyard. The real estate industry supports the bill as a way to boost the property values of aging homes sitting on valuable land. The bill cleared committee on Monday afternoon with an amendment from House Committee on Housing Chair Strom Peterson, (DEdmonds) which would exempt local governments from permitting ADUs in a neighborhood if it meant sparking a wastewater hazard. The other ADU bill is HB 1337 which cleared the Senate Committee on Local Government, Land Use, and Tribal Affairs on Tuesday. 1337 was amended which removed a provision to pre-empt off-street parking mandates. The bill passed the House with a strong bipartisan vote.

Walk to the Bus Stop
Senate Bill 5466 concerning transit-oriented development by Senator Marko Liias (DMukilteo) aiming to create denser housing requirements around public transit is not going to be so easy this session. The bill is bogged down in how much of the dense housing should be affordable and how close it needs to be to transit. The bill passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote, but House Capital Budget Committee re-wrote the bill to require 20 percent of residential units within the area be affordable to individuals making 60% of the area median income (AMI). That provision will draw opposition from the developer and real estate industry looking to find more market-rate housing to sale. 

Pink Tax
Senate Bill 5171 by Senator Manka Dhingra (D-Bellevue) is a bill that would have prohibited price differences in goods that are substantially similar but priced differently based on general of whom the goods are marketed did not come to vote in the House Consumer Protection & Business committee and will not advance any further this session. Dubbed the “Pink Tax” the bill was opposed by retailers arguing that the price of such products was determined by the manufacturer and not at the discretion of retailers. House Democrat members did not have the votes to advance the bill out of committee.

Budget Week
Monday House budget leaders rolled out their 2923-2025 biennial operating, capital and transportation budget proposals. A very high-level overview of those proposals are below. Overall, House budget writes spend more in their plans than the Senate proposals released last week. After the fiscal committee cutoff this Tuesday, budget negotiations to reconcile the differences between House and Senate budgets will begin.  

House Operating
The House Democrats Budget dubbed “Resilient Washington,” would spend $69.5 billion over the next 2-years on Democrat priorities, including: racial equity items like $73 million for refugee support and education and $25 million to fund Cascade Care for low-income Medicaid ineligible individuals. For education and workforce development the House proposal spends $570 million for salary adjustment and healthcare cost increase for K-12 educators, $179 million to increase funding supports for special education students, $85 million to expand access to free meals for students (this funds a bill by Rep. Marcus Riccelli (D-Spokane)), and $82 million to expand Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program slots and increase rates. In Housing, Human Services, and Poverty Reduction the House proposes $128 million in food assistance programs, $175 million for emergency housing and rental assistance, and $150 million towards the covenant homeownership program. For Public Health, Behavioral Health, Long-Term Care, and Developmental Disabilities there is $762 million to increase homecare worker rates for individual providers, $340 million for adult family home collective bargaining agreements and $344 million for a 15% rate increase for behavioral health providers. The House spending package also has over $300 million for Climate Commitment Act investments. 

House Capital Budget
The House Capital Budget is an $8.3 Billion plan and if approved at that level, would set a new record for state construction spending. Highlights include: upgrades for affordable housing like $400 million for the Housing Trust Fund, $75 million for utility and infrastructure costs related to affordable housing construction, $50 million for affordable Transit-Oriented Development, and $40 million for land acquisition for affordable housing. The budget also makes investments in youth shelter and transitional housing, whole-home energy retrofits, low-income weatherization, and low-income rural home rehabilitation. The House Democrats pay for the controversial “cost increase” at Western State Forensic Hospital (the state’s largest mental institution) with an appropriation of $613 million to construct the new 350-bed facility. The House Capital Budget also has $806 million for K-12 school construction, $400 million for Community and Technical Colleges and $344 million for public universities. 

Transportation Budgets
House Democrats proposed a second supplemental transportation budget for the 2021-23 biennium and the new transportation budget for the 2023-25 fiscal biennium, providing a spending authority of $10.3 Billion and $13.6 Billion, respectively. These budget funds will be used to implement last year’s Move Ahead Washington package (almost $17 Billion) over a 16-year($16 Billion investment), also over a 16-year period. The House Transportation budget erases any notion of the delays of the state’s major highway projects from Governors Inslee’s package last December and puts those major highway projects back on track. With a $5.67 billion highway improvements and preservation package the House restores the North/South Freeway near Spokane (connecting I-90 at the south, just west of the Thor/Freya interchange and US 2 and US 395), the Puget Sound Gateway Program (SR 167 and SR 509 completion), and restored funding for SR 18 widening to improve highway safety. The Senate unveiled their transportation proposal on Wednesday, coming in at $12.9 Billion for the 2023-25 budget and $10.6 Billion for the 2021-23 biennium supplemental. Like the House plan, the Senate restores funding to the state’ major highway projects and focuses on traffic safety, workforce expansion in the state patrol and ferry system, electrification, transit, green investments, and capital projects throughout Washington.  

Next Week
Fiscal committee’s will have fat schedules of bills to mark up, amend, debate, and vote out of committee ahead of the opposite house fiscal committee cutoff on Tuesday, April 4. Starting Wednesday, the legislature completes its committee phases and will be on the floor full time working bills from the opposite chamber that advanced from Senate committees.