February 15, 2019: Week Five
Week five was an unusual one here in Olympia with Monday’s winter storm causing leadership to cancel all committee meetings and ultimately shut down the capitol for a brief 24 hours—a very rare occurrence during the legislative session. This delay resulted in the harried rescheduling of countless bills and jam-packed hearings in the following days as we are now just one week away from the deadline for bills to be voted out of their initial policy committee and two weeks away from the last day to pass fiscal committees (for legislation that has a fiscal impact).
Taking center stage this week was legislation that would apply parts of the Public Records Act to members of the legislature. This comes in contrast to the event that took place last session in which legislation effectively exempting legislators from the PRA was shuttled through both chambers in a matter of days, then ultimately vetoed by the Governor after thousands of citizens caught wind of the policy and voiced their indignation. Similarly, a bill was heard in committee that would prevent local jurisdictions from imposing taxes on employees; this was in response to the Seattle City Council’s attempt to impose a Head Tax over the summer, which was ultimately repealed less than a month later after making headlines for significant opposition.
At this point there is still little momentum around budget and tax proposals. We expect more activity around the three budget proposals—operating, capital, and transportation—after the upcoming committee cutoffs.
Governor’s Inslee’s 100% Clean bill, HB 1211 and SB 5116 continue to take center stage as the primary carbon-legislation vessel. Both versions were heard in their respective fiscal committees this week, HB 1211 incurring lively conversation on Thursday as members dove into the long-term costs to consumers of the policy for the first time. They are scheduled for votes out of those committees next week. The tangential Republican-sponsored, cost-reduction legislation, HB 1226, was also heard and is scheduled for executive session next week. It was voted out of its policy committee unanimously.
The other carbon-related proposals have not gained any notable traction, however Sen. Carlyle did host a stakeholder workgroup on his Cap and Trade bill early in the week in which he voiced a strong desire to have it accompany the 100% Clean legislation and directed the EITE’s to submit comments on the draft released last week. We expect to see the bill officially introduced sometime next week. Rep. Shewmake’s carbon tax legislation has not been introduced yet and does not appear to have any momentum around it.
A few other bills of interest were heard this week including HB 1832, legislation regarding electrification of pubic vehicles, SB 5280 concerning community solar gardens, and a commercial property assessed clean energy and resiliency (C-PACER) bill.
Upcoming Hearings
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/18 @ 1:30pm
- HB 1642 – Public Hearing – 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.
Ways & Means (Senate) – SHR 4, JACB – 2/18 @ 3:30pm
- SSB 5293 – Public Hearing – Concerning energy efficiency.
- SSB 5116 – Exec Session – Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future.
- SSB 5223 – Exec Session – Concerning net metering.
Finance (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 2/19 @ 8:00am
- 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.
Environment, Energy & Technology (Senate) – SHR 1, JACB – 2/19 @ 10:00am
- SB 5336 – Exec Session – Advancing electric transportation.
State Government & Tribal Relations (House) – HHR E, JLOB – 2/19 @ 1:30pm
- HB 1832 – Exec Session – Concerning the electrification of the Washington public vehicle fleet.
Local Government (House) – HHR D, JLOB – 2/20 @ 8:00am
- HB 1796 – Exec Session – Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience.
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/21 @ 8:00am
- HB 1642 – Exec Session – 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.
Appropriations (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 2/21 @ 3:30pm
- SHB 1113 – Public Hearing – 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.
- SHB 1110 – Public Hearing – Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels. (If measure is referred to committee.)
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 | |
| SHB 1257 (SSB 5293) |
Concerning energy efficiency. | H ENVIDPS | 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 | |
| HB 2042 | Advancing green transportation adoption. | H Trans | Fey | |
| 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 (SHB 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 5629 | Promoting small modular reactors in Washington. | S Environment, E | Brown | |
| SB 5730 (HB 1796) |
Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | S Environment, E | Palumbo | |
| SB 5811 (HB 1999) |
Reducing emissions by making changes to the clean car standards and clean car program. | S Rules 2 | Nguyen |