February 2, 2019: Week Three
We are officially now three weeks into this long 2019 session and bill introductions, committee work sessions and public hearings, and citizen lobby days continue to consume the capitol. At this point, over 1600 bills have been introduced on an increasingly-wide range of issues, although it does appear that the frenetic pace is beginning to taper off. Many freshman legislators this year have brought with them a tidal wave of reform ideas and overall energy. With still three more weeks until the first committee cutoff, it is shaping up to be an extremely active and interesting session.
Governor Inslee’s expansive climate package and a variety of other environmental propositions continue to dominate many legislators pallets. The primary four–clean energy, clean buildings, clean transportation, and banning HFCs–are all moving along with seemingly little respite to their momentum. Also of note is Senator Carlyle’s cap and trade proposal and the anticipated introduction of freshman Representative Shewmake’s carbon tax legislation.
There was notable activity surrounding labor policy that took place this week including public hearings on a bill that would prohibit hair stylists from working as independent contractors renting booths in salons, companion independent contractor bills and non-competes. Although the broader business community, including technology companies, health care, transportation and others, have voiced significant concerns, it has become abundantly clear through an ever-increasing number of labor-related bills and strong Democratic majorities that the unions will not be overlooked this year.
Finally, the 40th District Senate seat remains unfilled since Senator Kevin Ranker’s abrupt resignation earlier this month following allegations of misconduct. The Senate Democratic caucus is reportedly meeting on Saturday to officially select a replacement and will announce their decision by Tuesday of next week.
Most notable this week was the passage of the Governor’s 100% Clean bill (SSB 5116) out of the Senate Environment committee on primarily party lines. Sen. Sheldon, Asst. Ranking Minority Member of the committee, voted do pass on the legislation. It will now await testimony in the Ways & Means fiscal committee. As mentioned above, Sen. Carlyle and Rep. Shewmake are both expected to introduce tangential carbon-related proposals—Cap and Trade and Carbon Tax legislation, respectively—however it is unclear whether these will be able to gain any significant momentum with 100% Clean taking center stage at this time.
Also of note, several bills concerning rooftop solar are in play. SB 5223 regarding net metering is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Ways & Means committee next week and HB 1126 concerning DER planning passed out of committee with bipartisan support on Thursday.
Most of the action next week will be in the House Energy Committee where they are holding executive session on HB 1221 (100% Clean Energy), HB 1226 (Reducing the costs to 100% Clean Energy), HB 1257 (Energy Efficiency), and HB 1444 (Appliance Efficiency). The Senate will also be hearing testimony on SB 5629, a bill that would promote small modular nuclear reactors in Washington.
Upcoming Hearings
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/5 @ 3:30pm
- HB 1211 – Exec Session – Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future.
- HB 1226 – Exec Session – Encouraging investment in and reducing the costs of transitioning to the clean energy future.
- HB 1257 – Exec Session – Concerning energy efficiency.
Ways & Means (Senate) – SHR 4, JACB – 2/5 @ 3:30pm
- SSB 5223 – Public Hearing – Concerning net metering.
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/7 @ 8:00am
- HB 1211 – Exec Session – Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future.
- HB 1226 – Exec Session – Encouraging investment in and reducing the costs of transitioning to the clean energy future.
- HB 1257 – Exec Session – Concerning energy efficiency.
Transportation (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/7 @ 3:30pm
- HB 1397 – Public Hearing – Encouraging the use of electric or hybrid-electric aircraft for regional air travel.
Bill Status
Monitoring Bills
| Bill # | Title | Status | Sponsor | Position |
| HB 1226 | Encouraging investment in and reducing the costs of transitioning to the clean energy future. | H Env & Energy | DeBolt |
Other Bills
| Bill # | Title | Status | Sponsor | Position |
| HB 1102 (SB 5134) |
Concerning the capital budget. | H Cap Budget | Tharinger | |
| HB 1109 (SB 5153) |
Making 2019-2021 biennium operating appropriations. | H Approps | Ormsby | |
| SHB 1110 (SB 5412) |
Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels. | H Trans | Fitzgibbon | |
| SHB 1113 | Amending state greenhouse gas emission limits for consistency with the most recent assessment of climate change science and with the United States’ commitment under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. | H ENVIDPS | Slatter | |
| HB 1126 | Enabling electric utilities to prepare for the distributed energy future. | H ENVIDP | Morris | |
| HB 1127 | Concerning the electrification of transportation. | H Env & Energy | Morris | |
| HB 1128 | Authorizing an alternative form of regulation of electrical and natural gas companies. | H Env & Energy | Morris | |
| HB 1129 | Concerning customer-sited electricity generation. | H Env & Energy | Morris | |
| HB 1211 (SSB 5116) |
Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. | H Env & Energy | Tarleton | |
| HB 1257 (SB 5293) |
Concerning energy efficiency. | H Env & Energy | Doglio | |
| HB 1397 | Encouraging the use of electric or hybrid-electric aircraft for regional air travel. | H Trans | Slatter | |
| HB 1642 | Allowing the energy savings associated with on-bill repayment programs to count toward a qualifying utility’s energy conservation targets under the energy independence act. | H Env & Energy | Doglio | |
| HB 1664 (SB 5336) |
Advancing electric transportation. | H Env & Energy | Slatter | |
| HB 1796 (SB 5730) |
Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | H Local Govt | Doglio | |
| HB 1832 | Concerning the electrification of the Washington public vehicle fleet. | H State Govt & T | Macri | |
| SB 5108 (HB 1070) |
Concerning the tax treatment of renewable natural gas. | S Environment, E | King | |
| SSB 5115 (HB 1444) |
Concerning appliance efficiency standards. | S Ways & Means | Carlyle | |
| SSB 5116 (HB 1211) |
Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. | S Ways & Means | Carlyle | |
| SB 5118 | Concerning the right to consume self-generated electricity. | S Rules 2 | Palumbo | |
| SB 5134 (HB 1102) |
Concerning the capital budget. | S Ways & Means | Frockt | |
| SB 5153 (HB 1109) |
Making 2019-2021 biennium operating appropriations. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| SSB 5223 | Concerning net metering. | S Ways & Means | Palumbo | |
| SB 5293 (HB 1257) |
Concerning energy efficiency. | S Environment, E | Carlyle | |
| SB 5336 (HB 1664) |
Advancing electric transportation. | S Environment, E | Palumbo | |
| SB 5412 (SHB 1110) |
Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels. | S Environment, E | Salda?a | |
| SB 5730 (HB 1796) |
Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | S Environment, E | Palumbo |