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 |