April 21, 2019: Week 14.
With only nine scheduled days left of the 105-day 2019 Session, we are officially in the home stretch. This is, of course, barring any “special” sessions that may extend the April 28th end date if the legislature cannot come to agreement on the final budget. This was a big week for policy bills, which had to be voted out the opposite chamber (House or Senate) by Wednesday at 5:00 pm in order to stay alive. Bills that have a significant budget impact are not subject to this deadline and have until the last day of session to pass. Those that survived are now doing one of three things: going back to their original house for ‘concurrence’ if changes were made in the opposite house that are agreed on; going into a ‘conference committee’ if those changes are not concurred; or, if no changes were made, heading straight to the Governor’s desk for his signature and official law-hood (save for a full or partial veto).
Amongst concurrences and bill signings, the conversation returned largely to
the budget following Wednesday’s cutoff. On Thursday, the Senate budget
committee took action on a number of budget related bills. Notably, they
approved a graduated REET proposal (SSB 5998), a tax on property and casualty
insurance premiums to fund wildfire prevention (SSB 5996), an increased B&O tax rate
for travel agents and tour operators (SSB 5997), and an increased hazardous
substance tax (SSB 5993). More details can be found on the
changes that these pieces of legislation underwent in committee here. The House Finance committee also
moved several revenue bills on Friday including a capital gains tax (SHB 2156), a similar preferential B&O
tax removal as SB 5997 (SHB 2157), and a B&O surcharge tax on
services (SHB 2158). Descriptions of committee
changes can be found in the linked substitutes. It continues to be very unclear
which—if any—of these proposals will ultimately be agreed upon by both houses
as we still have yet to even see a final negotiated budget. There is still much
to happen in these final days of session.
The 100% Clean Energy bill, SB 5116, has not yet been concurred by the Senate but is reportedly expected to clear this step without issue sometime in the next week. This is also the case for SB 5223, the solar net metering legislation.
HB 1257, the clean buildings legislation, was voted out of the Senate 25-23 on Monday and amendments were concurred by the House on Thursday on a final passage vote of 55-39. It will head for the Governor’s office as soon as it is signed by leadership in both houses.
At this point it appears unlikely that the LCFS legislation (HB 1110) will make it to final passage this session, although it is technically alive until the last day of session and could be shuttled through if something were to change in these final days. We do expect this legislation to return next year.
Upcoming Hearings
Appropriations (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 4/22 @ 1:30pm
- HB 2157 – Public Hearing – Updating the Washington tax structure to address the needs of Washingtonians. (If measure is referred to committee.)
- HB 2157 – Exec Session – Updating the Washington tax structure to address the needs of Washingtonians. (If measure is referred to committee.)
Bill Status
| Bill # | Title | Status | Sponsor | Position |
|
SHB 1102 (SSB 5134) | Concerning the capital budget. | S 2nd Reading | Tharinger | |
|
ESHB 1109 (SB 5153) | Making 2019-2021 biennium operating appropriations and 2017-2019 biennium second supplemental operating appropriations. | S Passed 3rd | Ormsby | |
|
E2SHB 1110 (SB 5412) | Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels. | S Transportation | Fitzgibbon | |
| EHB 1126 | Enabling electric utilities to prepare for the distributed energy future. | H Spkr Signed | Morris | |
|
E3SHB 1257 (2SSB 5293) | Concerning energy efficiency. | H Passed FP | Doglio | |
| SHB 1832 | Concerning the electrification of the Washington public vehicle fleet. | H Trans | Macri | |
| 2SHB 2042 | Advancing green transportation adoption. | Fey | ||
| SHB 2156 | Investing in quality prekindergarten, K-12, and postsecondary opportunities throughout Washington with excise taxes on sales and extraordinary profits of high valued assets. | Jinkins | ||
| SHB 2157 | Updating the Washington tax structure to address the needs of Washingtonians. | Tarleton | ||
|
SB 5108 (HB 1070) | Concerning the tax treatment of renewable natural gas. | S Environment, E | King | |
|
E2SSB 5116 (2SHB 1211) | Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. | H Passed 3rd | Carlyle | |
|
SSB 5134 (SHB 1102) | Concerning the capital budget. | S Rules 2 | Frockt | |
|
SB 5153 (ESHB 1109) | Making 2019-2021 biennium operating appropriations. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
|
E2SSB 5223 (HB 1862) | Concerning net metering. | H Passed 3rd | Palumbo | |
| SSB 5588 | Authorizing the production, distribution, and sale of renewable hydrogen. | C 51 L 19 | Hawkins | |
| SB 5981 | Implementing a greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade program. | S Environment, E | Carlyle | |
| SB 6000 | Relating to state general obligation bonds and related accounts. | S Ways & Means | Frockt | |
| SB 6001 | Relating to the capital budget. | S Ways & Means | Frockt | |
| SB 6002 | Relating to the capital budget. | S Ways & Means | Frockt | |
| SB 6003 | Relating to state government. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| SB 6004 | Relating to fiscal matters. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| SB 6005 | Relating to revenue. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| SB 6006 | Relating to education. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes |
Dead Bills
| Bill # | Title | Status | Sponsor | Position |
| 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 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 | |
|
2SHB 1211 (E2SSB 5116) | Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. | H Approps | Tarleton | |
| SHB 1226 | Encouraging investment in and reducing the costs of transitioning to the clean energy future. | H Finance | DeBolt | |
| HB 1397 | Encouraging the use of electric or hybrid-electric aircraft for regional air travel. | S Rules 2 | 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 C | 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 Rules C | 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 | |
|
2SSB 5115 (2SHB 1444) | Concerning appliance efficiency standards. | S Rules X | Carlyle | |
| SB 5118 | Concerning the right to consume self-generated electricity. | S Rules X | Palumbo | |
|
2SSB 5293 (E3SHB 1257) | Concerning energy efficiency. | S Rules X | Carlyle | |
|
2SSB 5336 (HB 1664) | Advancing electric transportation. | S Ways & Means | 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 | |
|
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 Approps | Brown | |
| SB 5980 | Relating to greenhouse gas emissions. | S Environment, E | Honeyford |