March 15, 2019: Week Nine
Week nine here in Olympia was another week of late nights and spirited floor debates. Wednesday was the “House of Origin” cutoff, which means that all bills (except those deemed budget-related and therefore exempt from cutoffs) had to be voted out of their original chamber—House or Senate—by 5:00 pm on Wednesday to stay alive for this session. This cut off significantly narrowed the number of bills still moving from over 2100 to now just 671. Lawmakers will now revert back to committee hearings for the next several weeks as bills that survived cutoff move to the opposite chamber for additional consideration. We will also begin to see budget debates take shape starting next week with the revenue forecasts being released next Wednesday, March 20th and the official budgets soon thereafter.
SB 5116, the Governor’s 100% Clean legislation did not received much attention this week as it is well ahead of all the cutoffs. It was scheduled for a committee vote in the House Environment committee but was rescheduled for next week and also scheduled to for additional testimony in the House Finance committee where it will head next.
Senator Carlyle’s recently-introduced Cap & Trade bill, SB 5981, has been scheduled for its first public hearing in the Senate Environment committee next week. It will likely pass out of the committee as Senator Carlyle is the Chair, but is unclear how much further it can and will go given its very late start and the Legislature’s focus on the many other proposed environmental policies.
Also of note this week, Rep. Morris’ Distributed Energy Resource (DER) legislation, HB 1126, passed out of the House unanimously on Monday and is now scheduled for a vote in the Senate Environment committee next week. The solar net-metering legislation, SB 5223, received testimony in the House Environment committee as well this week with notable support expressed by many utilities.
Upcoming Hearings
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 3/18 @ 1:30pm
- SSB 5936 – Public Hearing – Concerning use of industrial waste through industrial symbioses.
Appropriations (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 3/18 @ 3:30pm
- 2SHB 1257 – Exec Session – Concerning energy efficiency.
Transportation (Senate) – SHR 1, JACB – 3/18 @ 3:30pm
- HB 1397 – Public Hearing – Encouraging the use of electric or hybrid-electric aircraft for regional air travel.
Environment, Energy & Technology (Senate) – SHR 1, JACB – 3/19 @ 10:00am
- E2SHB 1110 – Public Hearing – Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels.
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 3/19 @ 3:30pm
- SB 5811 – Public Hearing – Reducing emissions by making changes to the clean car standards and clean car program.
- E2SSB 5116 – Exec Session – Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future.
Ways & Means (Senate) – SHR 4, JACB – 3/19 @ 3:30pm
- 2SSB 5336 – Public Hearing – Advancing electric transportation.
Transportation (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 3/20 @ 3:30pm
- HB 2042 – Exec Session – Advancing green transportation adoption.
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 3/21 @ 8:00am
- SSB 5588 – Exec Session – Authorizing the production, distribution, and sale of renewable hydrogen.
Environment, Energy & Technology (Senate) – SHR 1, JACB – 3/21 @ 10:00am
- SB 5981 – Public Hearing – Implementing a greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade program.
Finance (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 3/21 @ 1:30pm
- E2SSB 5116 – Public Hearing – Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. (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 | |
| E2SHB 1110 (SB 5412) |
Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels. | S Environment, En | 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 | |
| EHB 1126 | Enabling electric utilities to prepare for the distributed energy future. | S Environment, En | 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 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 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 | |
| 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 2nd Reading | Doglio | |
| HB 1664 (2SSB 5336) |
Advancing electric transportation. | H Env & Energy | Slatter | |
| SHB 1796 (SB 5730) |
Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | H 2nd Reading | Doglio | |
| 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 5118 | Concerning the right to consume self-generated electricity. | S 2nd Reading | Palumbo | |
| SB 5412 (E2SHB 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 |