Source: Brad Boswell, Boswell Consulting, Feb 24, 20
Week Six
We are now six weeks into the 2020 short legislative session. Wednesday of this week marked a significant cutoff; bills had to pass out of their house of origin—either the House of Representatives or the Senate—via a chamber-wide vote to continue making their way toward lawhood. Legislators spent long days on the floor Sunday through Wednesday of this week voting on legislation. Most bills that are still alive have now moved over to the opposite chamber and have until next Friday, February 28th to pass out of their opposite-house policy committee. Bills that have a budgetary impact have until Monday, March 2nd to pass out of their opposite-house fiscal committee. Though a significant number of bills that did not make it past Wednesday’s cutoff are now technically considered “dead”, there is always the possibility for them to be resurrected if there is enough political pressure.
On Thursday, companion bills were introduced in the House and Senate HB 2945/SB 6690 that would remove the aerospace tax break for Boeing. The legislature adopted the tax break 16 years ago and it was renewed again in 2013. Removing the tax break will help Boeing to resolve a federal trade dispute with the WTO and could prevent potential tariffs from the European Union. Governor Inslee issued a statement upon the introduction of the bill stating that there was broad support in Olympia to pass this act in order to protect our commercial aircraft industry and other Washington exports. Both bills are scheduled for public hearings next week.
Discussions began with the introduction of HB 2907, the controversial king county payroll tax bill, sponsored by Rep. Nicole Macri (D-Seattle) and negotiations on the topic have been ongoing and have included stakeholders from the business community, labor, cities and King County. As a result of these negotiations, legislators introduced a new bill, HB 2948,on Thursday – this time prime sponsored by Rep. Larry Springer. Although the language in the new bill has been significantly revised it does not include language that would block a city’s authority to impose additional taxes on business. HB 2948 is expected to have a hearing next Thursday in the House Finance Committee.
With less than three weeks left of the scheduled session, the legislature will
now also turn their attention to the 2020 supplemental budget. The annual
revenue forecast was released on Wednesday which indicated an additional $4
billion in projected revenue for the next four years, a much higher number than
was anticipated. Read the complete forecast here. Both the House and Senate will release their versions
of each of the three budgets—Operating, Transportation, and Capital—early next
week, except for the Senate’s Capital budget, which was released and heard on
Thursday of this week.
A work session on the Clean Energy Fund is scheduled for next Thursday, February 24th in the House Capital Budget committee. We are in the process of preparing a panel of fund recipients to present on their projects.
As noted above, the Senate published their proposed supplemental Capital budget and held a public hearing on it on Thursday of this week. Click here to watch the testimony. It passed out of the Ways & Means committee on Friday with several amendments and will now head to the floor for chamber wide vote. The House version will be released and heard in committee next Monday.
Upcoming Events
Appropriations (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 2/24 @ 3:30pm
- HB 2325 – Public Hearing – Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations.
Transportation (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/24 @ 3:30pm
- HB 2322 – Public Hearing – Making supplemental transportation appropriations for the 2019-2021 fiscal biennium.
Ways & Means (Senate) – SHR 4, JACB – 2/24 @ 3:30pm
- SB 6168 – Public Hearing – Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations. (Hearing is on the Proposed Substitute.)
Capital Budget (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/25 @ 8:00am
- HB 2324 – Public Hearing – Concerning the capital budget.
Environment, Energy & Technology (Senate) – SHR 1, JACB – 2/25 @ 10:00am
- E2SHB 1110 – Exec Session – Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels.
- E2SHB 2311 – Exec Session – Amending state greenhouse gas emission limits for consistency with the most recent assessment of climate change science.
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/25 @ 3:30pm
- SSB 6135 – Public Hearing – Concerning system reliability during the clean energy transformation act implementation.
Ways & Means (Senate) – SHR 4, JACB – 2/25 @ 3:30pm
- SB 6168 – Exec Session – Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations.
Appropriations (House) – HHR A, JLOB – 2/26 @ 3:30pm
- HB 2325 – Exec Session – Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations.
Transportation (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/26 @ 3:30pm
- HB 2322 – Exec Session – Making supplemental transportation appropriations for the 2019-2021 fiscal biennium.
Capital Budget (House) – HHR B, JLOB – 2/27 @ 3:30pm
- HB 2324 – Exec Session – Concerning the capital budget.
Monitoring Bills
| Bill # | Abbrev. Title | Short Description | Status | Sponsor | Position |
| E2SHB 1110 (SB 5412) | Greenhouse gas/transp. fuels | Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels. | S Environment, En | Fitzgibbon | |
| E2SHB 2311 (SB 6272) | Greenhouse gas emissions | Amending state greenhouse gas emission limits for consistency with the most recent assessment of climate change science. | S Environment, E | Slatter | |
| HB 2322 (SB 6497) | Transp. budget, supplemental | Making supplemental transportation appropriations for the 2019-2021 fiscal biennium. | H Trans | Fey | |
| HB 2324 (SB 6248) | Capital budget, supplemental | Concerning the capital budget. | H Cap Budget | Tharinger | |
| HB 2325 (SB 6168) | Operating budget, supplement | Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations. | H Approps | Ormsby | |
| SHB 2486 (SB 6318) | Electric marine batteries | Extending the electric marine battery incentive. | H Approps | Lekanoff | |
| SHB 2892 | Greenhouse gas emissions | 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 Approps | Fitzgibbon | |
| SB 5108 (Inactive) (HB 1070) | Natural gas tax treatment | Concerning the tax treatment of renewable natural gas. | S Environment, E | King | |
| SB 5153 (Inactive) (ESHB 1109) | Operating budget 2019-2021 | Making 2019-2021 biennium operating appropriations. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| SB 5412 (Inactive) (E2SHB 1110) | Greenhouse gas/transp. fuels | Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels. | S Environment, E | Saldaña, | |
| SB 5811 (HB 1999) | Clean car standards & prog. | Reducing emissions by making changes to the clean car standards and clean car program. | H ENVIDPA | Nguyen | |
| SB 5980 (Inactive) | Greenhouse gas emissions TO | Relating to greenhouse gas emissions. | S Environment, E | Carlyle | |
| SB 5981 (Inactive) | Greenhouse gas cap and trade | Implementing a greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade program. | S Environment, E | Carlyle | |
| SB 6000 (Inactive) | Gen. obligation bonds T.O. | Relating to state general obligation bonds and related accounts. | S Ways & Means | Frockt | |
| SB 6001 (Inactive) | Capital budget T.O. | Relating to the capital budget. | S Ways & Means | Frockt | |
| SB 6002 (Inactive) | Capital budget T.O. | Relating to the capital budget. | S Ways & Means | Frockt | |
| SB 6003 (Inactive) | State government T.O. | Relating to state government. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| SB 6005 (Inactive) | Revenue T.O. | Relating to revenue. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| SB 6006 (Inactive) | Education T.O. | Relating to education. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| SSB 6135 | System reliability/energy | Concerning system reliability under the clean energy transformation act. | H Env & Energy | Sheldon | |
| SB 6168 (HB 2325) | Operating budget, supplement | Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes | |
| SB 6248 (HB 2324) | Capital budget, supplemental | Concerning the capital budget. | S Ways & Means | Frockt |
Dead Bills
| Bill # | Abbrev. Title | Short Description | Status | Sponsor | Position |
| SHB 1113 (Inactive) | Greenhouse emission limits | 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 (Inactive) | Transp. electrification | Concerning the electrification of transportation. | H Env & Energy | Morris | |
| HB 1128 (Inactive) | Electric & nat gas companies | Authorizing an alternative form of regulation of electrical and natural gas companies. | H Env & Energy | Morris | |
| HB 1129 (Inactive) | Customer-sited electricity | Concerning customer-sited electricity generation. | H Env & Energy | Morris | |
| 2SHB 1211 (Inactive) (E2SSB 5116) | Clean energy | Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. | H Approps | Tarleton | |
| SHB 1226 (Inactive) | Clean energy | Encouraging investment in and reducing the costs of transitioning to the clean energy future. | H Finance | DeBolt | |
| HB 1397 (Inactive) | Electric aircraft | Encouraging the use of electric or hybrid-electric aircraft for regional air travel. | H Rules X | Slatter | |
| SHB 1642 (Inactive) | On-bill repayment programs | 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 (Inactive) (2SSB 5336) | Electric transportation | Advancing electric transportation. | H Env & Energy | Slatter | |
| SHB 1796 (SB 5730) | Comm. property/clean energy | Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | H Local Govt | Doglio | |
| SHB 1832 (Inactive) | Public vehicle fleet | Concerning the electrification of the Washington public vehicle fleet. | H Trans | Macri | |
| HB 1862 (Inactive) (E2SSB 5223) | Electrical net metering | Concerning net metering. | H Env & Energy | Mead | |
| HB 1984 (Inactive) | Ag competitiveness/emissions | 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 (Inactive) (SSB 5936) | Industrial symbioses | Concerning use of industrial waste through industrial symbioses. | H Env & Energy | Doglio | |
| SHB 2156 (Inactive) | Taxes on asset sales, profit | 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 (Inactive) | Tax structure | Updating the Washington tax structure to address the needs of Washingtonians. | H Rules X | Tarleton | |
| SHB 2248 (SB 6223) | Community solar projects | Expanding equitable access to the benefits of renewable energy through community solar projects. | H Rules C | Doglio | |
| HB 2495 | Energy recovery facilities | 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 | Transp. electrification | Concerning the electrification of transportation. | H Trans | Macri | |
| SHB 2586 (SB 6496) | Electrification | Concerning the electrification of homes and buildings. | H Rules C | Ramel | |
| HB 2652 | Renewable ammonia | Concerning renewable ammonia. | H RDev, Ag&NR | Doglio | |
| HB 2756 | Metering infrastructure | Concerning advanced metering infrastructure. | H Env & Energy | Shea | |
| 2SSB 5115 (Inactive) (2SHB 1444) | Appliance efficiency | Concerning appliance efficiency standards. | S Rules X | Carlyle | |
| SB 5118 (Inactive) | Self-generated electricity | Concerning the right to consume self-generated electricity. | S Rules X | Palumbo | |
| SSB 5134 (SHB 1102) | Capital budget 2019-2021 | Concerning the capital budget. | S Rules X | Frockt | |
| 2SSB 5293 (Inactive) (E3SHB 1257) | Energy efficiency | Concerning energy efficiency. | S Rules X | Carlyle | |
| 2SSB 5336 (Inactive) (HB 1664) | Electric transportation | Advancing electric transportation. | S Ways & Means | Palumbo | |
| SB 5629 (Inactive) | Small modular reactors | Promoting small modular reactors in Washington. | S Environment, E | Brown | |
| SB 5730 (Inactive) (SHB 1796) | Comm. property/clean energy | Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | S Environment, E | Palumbo | |
| SSB 5936 (Inactive) (HB 2079) | Industrial symbioses | Concerning use of industrial waste through industrial symbioses. | S Rules 3 | Brown | |
| SB 6222 (E2SHB 2405) | Comm. property/clean energy | Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | S Environment, E | Lovelett | |
| SB 6223 (SHB 2248) | Community solar projects | Expanding equitable access to the benefits of renewable energy through community solar projects. | S Environment, E | Lovelett | |
| SB 6272 (E2SHB 2311) | Greenhouse gas emissions | Amending state greenhouse gas emission limits for consistency with the most recent assessment of climate change science. | S Environment, E | Das | |
| SB 6318 (SHB 2486) | Electric marine batteries | Extending the electric marine battery incentive. | S Transportation | Liias | |
| SB 6496 (SHB 2586) | Electrification | Concerning the electrification of homes and buildings. | S Environment, E | Lovelett | |
| SSB 6628 | Greenhouse gas/fossil fuels | Concerning emissions of greenhouse gases. | S 2nd Reading | Carlyle |