February 22, 2019: Week Six
Today marked both the end of the sixth week of this 15-week session and the first calendar cutoff. Bills that were not voted out of their original policy committee by 5:00pm today are considered dead for the remainder of this session. The many bills that did make it out will now await a chamber-wide floor vote or, if they have a fiscal impact, will have to be passed out of their respective fiscal committee by next Friday’s upcoming fiscal committee cutoff. At this point, many of the bills that were introduced in both chambers as companions have now been narrowed down with just one primary vessel—House or Senate—still in play.
A number of notable pieces of legislation continue to make their way through the process including bills removing the personal and philosophical objection exceptions for vaccines required to attend school—which instigated another campus-wide protest this week—raising the tobacco consumption age to 21, and instituting permanent daylight savings time. On Thursday Senator Hobbs, Transportation Chair, introduced a $17 billion state wide transportation revenue package which, among other things, includes a carbon fee, increases penalty fees for HOV and toll lane violations, and raises the state’s fuel tax rate by 6 cents per gallon.
Both 100% Clean Energy bills—SHB 1211 and SSB 5116—were voted out of their respective fiscal committees this week. It is unclear at this time which version will become the main vessel moving forward as they both still have substantial momentum. The Senate version, however, underwent a much broader amendment process than the House version, which may signify it as the emerging frontrunner. The latest version of SSB 5116 can be found here.
Both of the Governor’s Clean Buildings bills, SHB 1257 and SSB 5293, are also still in play at this point. The Senate version was heard in the Ways & Means fiscal committee on Monday and the House version will be heard in Appropriations next Monday. Both will need to be moved out of these committees by next Friday if they are to continue.
We still have yet to see a draft of Sen. Carlyle’s Cap and Trade bill, Rep. Shewmake’s carbon tax proposal, or Rep. Doglio’s Buy Clean legislation. Although they may still be introduced, it is very unlikely that they will be able to make any notable progress this late in the game.
Finally, the net metering legislation, SSB 5223, passed out of Ways & Means this week with bipartisan support.
Upcoming Hearings
Finance (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 2/25 @ 8:00am
- SHB 1257 – Public Hearing – Concerning energy efficiency.
Transportation (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/25 @ 1:30pm
- HB 2042 – Public Hearing – Advancing green transportation adoption.
Transportation (Senate) – SHR 1, JACB – 2/28 @ 1:30pm
- SSB 5336 – Public Hearing – Advancing electric transportation.
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 Approps | 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 | |
| 2SHB 1211 (2SSB 5116) |
Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. | H FINDP2S | Tarleton | |
| SHB 1257 (SSB 5293) |
Concerning energy efficiency. | H Finance | Doglio | |
| HB 1397 | Encouraging the use of electric or hybrid-electric aircraft for regional air travel. | H Trans | Slatter | |
| SHB 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 ENVIDPS | Doglio | |
| SHB 1796 (SB 5730) |
Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | H LGDPS | Doglio | |
| SHB 1832 | Concerning the electrification of the Washington public vehicle fleet. | Macri | ||
| 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 | |
| 2SSB 5116 (2SHB 1211) |
Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. | S Rules 2 | 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 | |
| 2SSB 5223 (HB 1862) |
Concerning net metering. | S Rules 2 | Palumbo | |
| SSB 5293 (SHB 1257) |
Concerning energy efficiency. | S Ways & Means | Carlyle | |
| SSB 5336 (HB 1664) |
Advancing electric transportation. | S Transportation | Palumbo | |
| SSB 5588 | Authorizing the production, distribution, and sale of renewable hydrogen. | H Env & Energy | Hawkins | |
| SB 5811 (HB 1999) |
Reducing emissions by making changes to the clean car standards and clean car program. | S 2nd Reading | Nguyen | |
| SB 5936 (HB 2079) |
Concerning use of industrial waste through industrial symbioses. | S Ways & Means | Brown |
Dead Bills
| Bill # | Title | Status | Sponsor | Position |
| 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 1664 (SSB 5336) |
Advancing electric transportation. | H Env & Energy | Slatter | |
| HB 1862 (2SSB 5223) |
Concerning net metering. | H Env & Energy | Mead | |
| HB 1984 | Ensuring that attempts to limit greenhouse gas emissions in Washington state do not make Washington’s agricultural products and food processing businesses economically uncompetitive, thereby shifting emissions to jurisdictions without similar greenhouse gas policies. | H Env & Energy | Maycumber | |
| HB 2079 (SB 5936) |
Concerning use of industrial waste through industrial symbioses. | H Env & Energy | Doglio | |
| 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 (SHB 1796) |
Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | S Environment, E | Palumbo |