February 8, 2019: Week 4
Week four here in Olympia was marked by the first chamber-wide votes on several pieces of fast-tracked legislation, an official appointment to the 40th district open Senate seat (Liz Lovelett, an Anacortes City Councilmember), and—most overwhelmingly—frigid temperatures and an impending winter weather crisis. Although Olympia very rarely shuts down during session, Monday’s blanket of snow and icy road conditions did slow activity on campus throughout the week; circumstances that we are anticipating may return if the inclement weather persists. There are now only two weeks left until the first calendar cut-off on February 22nd, when all bills that are to continue (besides those deemed “necessary to implement the budget”) must be passed out of their respective policy committees.
While the legislature has not gotten into deep budget discussions quite yet, Democrats have begun signalling significant concerns over budget holes prompted by recent education funding and multiple collective bargaining agreements. There are clear indications of the need for new revenue to balance the budget; what this will be is unclear at this time. We are also expecting to see Senator Steve Hobbs (Chair of the Senate Transportation committee) put out a more formalized version of his transportation package soon. It has received some pushback from Republican committee members due to its inclusion of a carbon tax and will likely be in flux until the final days of session.
Housing issues were front and center this week with hearings in both the House and Senate on tenant protections and eviction reform. Democratic lawmakers held a press conference on Thursday to present their policies for increasing the supply of housing and address housing affordability. We are also continuing to see significant movement in the environmental, labor, and behavioral health policy areas; numerous pieces of legislation on these issues are moving swiftly through the legislature.
The Governor’s 100% Clean legislation continues to make its way through the legislature with seemingly little reduction in momentum. The substitute House version, SHB 1211, was passed out of policy committee this week and will be heard in the Finance committee next Tuesday. The Senate version, SSB 5116, receive testimony in the Ways & Means fiscal committee on the same day. The two bills are now notably different as they have already gone through multiple iterations and will continue to change as they advance. Both are also scheduled for executive session next Thursday. A separate bill aimed at reducing the cost of transitioning to the clean energy future and sponsored by Republican Rep. Deboldt is also scheduled for a committee vote next Tuesday.
Sen. Carlyle has finally released his draft Cap and Trade, which can be found here. Little momentum is anticipated around this legislation with 100% Clean taking center stage. He will be hosting a meeting next Tuesday for stakeholders to provide additional feedback; we will attend and report back. Rep. Shewmake also released her draft Carbon Tax legislation, accessible here.
Several solar-related bills are also in play. SB 5223 concerning net metering and SB 5555, which would require all modules to be made in the US or comply to certain efficiency standards, were both heard in committee this week. SB 5280 regarding community solar gardens is scheduled for public testimony next Tuesday.
Upcoming Hearings
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/11 @ 1:30pm
- HB 1257 – Exec Session – Concerning energy efficiency.
Transportation (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/11 @ 3:30pm
- SHB 1110 – Public Hearing – Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels.
Finance (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 2/12 @ 8:00am
- HB 1211 – Public Hearing – Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future.
- HB 1226 – Public Hearing – Encouraging investment in and reducing the costs of transitioning to the clean energy future.
Environment, Energy & Technology (Senate) – SHR 1, JACB – 2/12 @ 10:00am
- SB 5336 – Public Hearing – Advancing electric transportation.
- SB 5811 – Public Hearing – Reducing emissions by making changes to the clean car standards and clean car program.
Local Government (House) – HHR D, JLOB – 2/12 @ 10:00am
- HB 1796 – Public Hearing – Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience.
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/12 @ 3:30pm
- HB 1257 – Exec Session – Concerning energy efficiency.
Ways & Means (Senate) – SHR 4, JACB – 2/12 @ 3:30pm
- SSB 5115 – Public Hearing – Concerning appliance efficiency standards.
- SSB 5223 – Exec Session – Concerning net metering.
- SSB 5116 – Public Hearing – Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. (Hearing is on the Proposed Substitute.)
State Government & Tribal Relations (House) – HHR E, JLOB – 2/13 @ 1:30pm
- HB 1832 – Public Hearing – Concerning the electrification of the Washington public vehicle fleet.
Transportation (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/13 @ 3:30pm
- SHB 1110 – Exec Session – Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels.
Finance (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 2/14 @ 1:30pm
- SHB 1211 – Exec Session – Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future.
- SHB 1226 – Exec Session – Encouraging investment in and reducing the costs of transitioning to the clean energy future.
Bill Status
Monitoring Bills
| Bill # | Title | Status | Sponsor | Position |
| SHB 1226 | Encouraging investment in and reducing the costs of transitioning to the clean energy future. | H Finance | 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 Approps | Slatter | |
| HB 1126 | Enabling electric utilities to prepare for the distributed energy future. | H Rules R | 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 | |
| SHB 1211 (SSB 5116) |
Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. | H Finance | Tarleton | |
| HB 1257 (SSB 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 | |
| HB 1862 (SSB 5223) |
Concerning net metering. | H Env & Energy | Mead | |
| SB 5108 (HB 1070) |
Concerning the tax treatment of renewable natural gas. | S Environment, E | King | |
| SSB 5115 (SHB 1444) |
Concerning appliance efficiency standards. | S Ways & Means | Carlyle | |
| SSB 5116 (SHB 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 2nd Reading | 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 (HB 1862) |
Concerning net metering. | S Ways & Means | Palumbo | |
| SSB 5293 (HB 1257) |
Concerning energy efficiency. | S Ways & Means | 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 | |
| SB 5811 | Reducing emissions by making changes to the clean car standards and clean car program. | S Environment, E | Nguyen |