February 1, 2020: Week 3
Analysis by CleanTech Alliance lobbyist Brad Boswell
We are now three weeks into the eight week 2020 legislative session and the whirlwind of committee hearings and votes, and intermittent chamber-wide action has yet to slow down. Next Friday, February 7th, is the first official deadline for bills to be passed out of their original policy committee, as well as the half-way point of this 60 day session.
Legislators went back to the drawing board this week to address implementation challenges with legislation that imposed a B&O tax on services to fund higher education, which was introduced and swiftly passed at the end of the 2019 session. The bill originally imposed a 1.5% surcharge on of a variety of business service sectors. The Senate passed a “fix” bill late Thursday that increased the surcharge to 1.75% but reduced the number of service sectors affected. They believe this will cover the gap in the spending and projected revenue of the original bill.
The Low Carbon Fuel Standard legislation, HB 1110, a priority of the Governor’s
office for the second year in a row, also passed out of the House on Thursday
by a close vote of 52-44. The bill will now go to the Senate for consideration,
which is where it stalled last session.
A new tax proposal (HB 2907) was
introduced on Wednesday by a Seattle Democrat that would authorize counties
with a population of over two million to impose 0.1% to 0.2% tax on businesses
with employees who earn at least $150,000 a year. The population threshold in
the bill would only include King County and the money raised would have to be
spent on homelessness, affordable housing, and behavioral health services. This
proposal is clearly a follow-up to the controversial head tax passed and then
later repealed by the Seattle City Council in 2018. Seattle Mayor, Jenny Durkan
and King County Executive, Dow Constantine have expressed their support for the
proposal and are taking the lead on pushing the issue with business leaders.
Introduction of the bill has created a buzz on campus and in the media and
stakeholders are still trying to analyze the effects in order to take a
position on the bill before its scheduled hearing next Tuesday.
Transportation Chair, Senator Hobbs, released his proposed 2021 transportation
package, Forward Washington, late this week. The package assumes, if enacted,
either a carbon tax or cap and trade/invest program to provide revenue for
myriad proposed transportation projects. There will be a work session with
public comment on it next Wednesday in the Senate Transportation committee.
There is a hearing this week on SB 6628, legislation that would allow the Department of Ecology to regulate indirect emissions, in response to the recent WA Supreme Court ruling on the Clean Air Act. Watch the full hearing here. The bill is scheduled for executive session next Friday.
Senator Carlyle’s Cap and Invest proposal, SB 5981, which has not seen any action throughout the interim or so far this session, has been scheduled for a testimony next Tuesday. The new striking amendment to the bill that will be heard next week is now available here.
Upcoming Hearings
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/3 @ 1:30pm
- HB 2892 – Public Hearing – Authorizing the department of ecology to regulate greenhouse gas emissions associated with persons who produce or distribute fossil fuel products that emit greenhouse gases in Washington.
Appropriations (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 2/3 @ 3:30pm
- SHB 2311 – Public Hearing – Amending state greenhouse gas emission limits for consistency with the most recent assessment of climate change science.
Environment, Energy & Technology (Senate) – SHR 1, JACB – 2/4 @ 10:00am
- SB 5981 – Public Hearing – Implementing a greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade program. (Hearing is on the Draft Proposed Substitute.)
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/4 @ 3:30pm
- HB 2248 – Exec Session – Expanding equitable access to the benefits of renewable energy through community solar projects.
- HB 2586 – Exec Session – Concerning the electrification of homes and buildings.
- HB 2892 – Exec Session – Authorizing the department of ecology to regulate greenhouse gas emissions associated with persons who produce or distribute fossil fuel products that emit greenhouse gases in Washington.
Environment, Energy & Technology (Senate) – SHR 1, JACB – 2/6 @ 10:00am
- SB 6135 – Exec Session – Concerning system reliability under the clean energy transformation act.
- SB 6628 – Exec Session – Concerning emissions of greenhouse gases.
Finance (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 2/6 @ 1:30pm
- HB 2486 – Public Hearing – Extending the electric marine battery incentive.
Finance (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 2/7 @ 1:30pm
- HB 2486 – Exec Session – Extending the electric marine battery incentive.
Bill Status
High Priority Bills
No bills.
Medium Priority Bills
No bills.
Low Priority Bills
No bills.
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 |
| E2SHB 1110 | 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 | |
| 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 | Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. | H Approps | Tarleton | |
| HB 1397 | Encouraging the use of electric or hybrid-electric aircraft for regional air travel. | H Rules X | 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 | Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | H Local Govt | Doglio | |
| SHB 1832 | Concerning the electrification of the Washington public vehicle fleet. | H Trans | Macri | |
|
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 | |
| 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. | H Rules X | Jinkins | |
| 2SHB 2157 | Updating the Washington tax structure to address the needs of Washingtonians. | H Rules X | Tarleton | |
|
HB 2248 (SB 6223) | Expanding equitable access to the benefits of renewable energy through community solar projects. | H Env & Energy | Doglio | |
| SHB 2311 | Amending state greenhouse gas emission limits for consistency with the most recent assessment of climate change science. | H Approps | Slatter | |
|
HB 2322 (SB 6497) | Making supplemental transportation appropriations for the 2019-2021 fiscal biennium. | H Trans | Fey | |
|
HB 2324 (SB 6248) | Concerning the capital budget. | H Cap Budget | Tharinger | |
|
HB 2325 (SB 6168) | Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations. | H Approps | Ormsby | |
|
HB 2486 (SB 6318) | Extending the electric marine battery incentive. | H Finance | Lekanoff | |
| HB 2495 | Concerning the use of electricity from energy recovery facilities using municipal solid waste under the Washington clean energy transformation act. | H Env & Energy | Shewmake | |
| HB 2515 | Concerning the electrification of transportation. | H Trans | Macri | |
|
HB 2586 (SB 6496) | Concerning the electrification of homes and buildings. | H Env & Energy | Ramel | |
| HB 2652 | Concerning renewable ammonia. | H RDev, Ag&NR | Doglio | |
| HB 2756 | Concerning advanced metering infrastructure. | H Env & Energy | Shea | |
| HB 2892 | Authorizing the department of ecology to regulate greenhouse gas emissions associated with persons who produce or distribute fossil fuel products that emit greenhouse gases in Washington. | H Env & Energy | Fitzgibbon | |
|
SB 5108 (HB 1070) | Concerning the tax treatment of renewable natural gas. | S Environment, E | King | |
| 2SSB 5115 | Concerning appliance efficiency standards. | S Rules X | Carlyle | |
| SB 5118 | Concerning the right to consume self-generated electricity. | S Rules X | Palumbo | |
| SSB 5134 | Concerning the capital budget. | S Rules X | Frockt | |
|
SB 5153 (ESHB 1109) | Making 2019-2021 biennium operating appropriations. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| 2SSB 5293 | Concerning energy efficiency. | S Rules X | Carlyle | |
| 2SSB 5336 | 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 | Concerning use of industrial waste through industrial symbioses. | S Rules 3 | Brown | |
| SB 5980 | Relating to greenhouse gas emissions. | S Environment, E | Carlyle | |
| 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 6005 | Relating to revenue. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| SB 6006 | Relating to education. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| SB 6135 | Concerning system reliability under the clean energy transformation act. | S Environment, E | Sheldon | |
|
SB 6168 (HB 2325) | Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
|
SB 6222 (SHB 2405) | Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | S Environment, E | Lovelett | |
|
SB 6223 (HB 2248) | Expanding equitable access to the benefits of renewable energy through community solar projects. | S Environment, E | Lovelett | |
|
SB 6248 (HB 2324) | Concerning the capital budget. | S Ways & Means | Frockt | |
|
SB 6272 (SHB 2311) | Amending state greenhouse gas emission limits for consistency with the most recent assessment of climate change science. | S Environment, E | Das | |
|
SB 6318 (HB 2486) | Extending the electric marine battery incentive. | S Transportation | Liias | |
|
SB 6496 (HB 2586) | Concerning the electrification of homes and buildings. | S Environment, E | Lovelett | |
| SB 6628 | Concerning emissions of greenhouse gases. | S Environment, E | Carlyle |
Dead Bills
No bills.