Week 8: 2019 WA Legislative Session Report

March 9, 2019:  Week Eight

We are approaching the end of week eight of the 15-week 2019 Legislative Session and have officially reached the halfway point. This week and next, both the House and Senate spend almost all of their time on the floor voting on bills to send to the opposite chamber prior to “House of Origin” cutoff at 5PM on March 13th. This fast-approaching deadline kept members (and staff and lobbyists alike) at the capitol until well past 8:00 pm multiple evenings and into the weekend. The early part of next week will again be spent on the floor in lead up to Wednesday’s deadline, followed by a return to committee hearings in the later half of the week as bills that survived the cutoff move over. The following week will then turn to budget matters as the revenue forecasts are expected to be released on the 20th and the budgets soon after.

The Governor’s various carbon package bills continue to move along. The 100% Clean legislation, SB 5116, that moved out of the Senate last week had a hearing in the House Environment committee on Tuesday and is now scheduled for executive session next Thursday. Generally it has become clear that the utilities, while still working out some details, are headed on a path towards acceptance of this legislation and it is looking very likely to pass. The House version, HB 1211, has not moved to the House floor yet and appears unlikely to go any further with all the momentum focused around the Senate version. The Low Carbon Fuel Standard bill, HB 1110, and clean buildings legislation, SB 5293, have not come to the floor for votes in their respective chambers yet, however both are still expected to move forward.

Also in the carbon realm, there have been some indications that Senator Carlyle’s cap and trade bill, SB 5981, may potentially have some momentum around it despite its late introduction and lack of consideration thus far. We will be keeping a close eye on it as the EITE exemption (Energy-Intensive, Trade-Exposed Industries) as currently written in the legislation is not as strong as we would like it to be.

Senator Hobb’s transportation package does not appear particularly likely to pass this year in light of it’s comprehensive nature and the legislature’s focus on other large issues at this point, however the revenue portion (SB 5971) did pass out the House Transportation committee this week with a lowered carbon tax ($10/ton on power generating utilities) and a $0.06 gas tax. Two Democrats, Senators Takko and Nguyen, voted in opposition.

Finally, legislation concerning net metering for residential rooftop solar, SB 5223, passed out of the Senate on Monday and is now scheduled for a hearing in the House Environment committee next week.

Upcoming Hearings

Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 3/12 @ 8:00am

  • E2SSB 5116 – Exec Session – Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future.

Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 3/14 @ 8:00am

  • SSB 5588 – Public Hearing – Authorizing the production, distribution, and sale of renewable hydrogen.
  • E2SSB 5223 – Public Hearing – Concerning net metering.
  • E2SSB 5116 – Exec Session – Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future.

Transportation (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 3/14 @ 3:30pm

  • HB 2042 – Exec Session – Advancing green transportation adoption.

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
2SHB 1110
(SB 5412)
Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels. H Rules R 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 2nd Reading Morris
2SHB 1211
(E2SSB 5116)
Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. H Approps Tarleton
2SHB 1257
(2SSB 5293)
Concerning energy efficiency. H Approps Doglio
HB 1397 Encouraging the use of electric or hybrid-electric aircraft for regional air travel. S Transportation 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 Rules R Doglio
SHB 1796
(SB 5730)
Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. H Rules R Doglio
SHB 1832 Concerning the electrification of the Washington public vehicle fleet. H Trans 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
2SSB 5115
(2SHB 1444)
Concerning appliance efficiency standards. S Rules 2 Carlyle
E2SSB 5116
(2SHB 1211)
Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. H Env & Energy 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
E2SSB 5223
(HB 1862)
Concerning net metering. H Env & Energy Palumbo
2SSB 5293
(2SHB 1257)
Concerning energy efficiency. S 2nd Reading Carlyle
2SSB 5336
(HB 1664)
Advancing electric transportation. S Ways & Means 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. H Env & Energy Nguyen
SSB 5936
(HB 2079)
Concerning use of industrial waste through industrial symbioses. H Env & Energy Brown
SB 5980 Relating to greenhouse gas emissions. S Environment, E Honeyford
SB 5981 Implementing a greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade program. S Environment, E Carlyle

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
(2SSB 5336)
Advancing electric transportation. H Env & Energy Slatter
HB 1862
(E2SSB 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
(SSB 5936)
Concerning use of industrial waste through industrial symbioses. H Env & Energy Doglio
SB 5412
(2SHB 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