Source: Boswell Consulting, Feb 29, 2020
Week Seven
We are now 7 weeks into the 2020 legislation session, with only 12 days remaining if the legislature finishes on time as anticipated. Legislators main focus this week was on committee hearings to hear bills that originated in the opposite chamber. The deadline for bills to pass out of their opposite-house policy committee was Friday. Bills with a budget impact have until Monday, March 2nd to be voted out of their opposite-house fiscal committee. Following that, the remaining days of session will be spent on the House and Senate floors, doing chamber-wide votes on bills.
The other focus of this week was on the 2020 supplemental budgets, which are primarily intended to make adjustments to the two-year budget passed last year. On Monday, both the House and Senate rolled out their separate operating budget proposal. The Senate’s budget included one-time spending of $115 million for homelessness, $100 million for climate change measures, and $100 million for UW’s new behavioral health hospital. Other investments include $184 million for healthcare, $128 million for K-12 education, and $116 million for childcare. Neither the House or Senate proposed any new taxes, this due primarily due to the higher-than-expected revenue forecast. The House proposed similar investments in their budget including a $100 million transfer to the Housing Trust Fund, which will go toward new affordable housing projects, homeless shelters and affordable housing programs. Both budgets had public hearings and were passed out of their respective fiscal committees early in the week. They were both passed out of their respective chambers later in the week and will now move into conference to flush out differences and ultimately merge into a single budget.
The House and Senate also rolled out their highly anticipated respective supplemental transportation budgets. In November Washington voters passed I-976, eliminating and reducing several state and local transportation revenue sources. Both budgets rely on underspending and shifting some costs and revenues for now. This means that the effects from I-976 will primarily be dealt with in 2021. The House budget has already passed the House with strong bipartisan support. The House and Senate will reconcile their budgets before March 12th.
There continues to be significant attention surrounding the bill authorizing King County to impose a payroll tax. There was a public hearing this week on the new bill introduced by Representative Larry Springer, HB 2948, in the House Finance Committee. Although proponents of the legislation continue to work towards an agreement, It appears that many of the original concerns are still unresolved and at this point in session time is running out.
Finally, there were public hearings on legislation that would remove the aerospace tax break for Boeing, HB 2945/SB 6690, in order to resolve issues with the WTO. The House version of the bill has been passed out of Committee and can be pulled to the House floor at any time for a vote.
A work session on the Clean Energy Fund was held in the House Capital Budget committee on Thursday this week. The Department of Commerce, PNNL, Avista, Impact Bioenergy, and Craft3 presented on CEF grant projects. Watch the full work session here.
The LCFS legislation, ESHB 1110, passed out of the Senate Environment committee on Tuesday this week on party lines. Several changes were made in the striking amendment that was adopted including a delayed effective date, making it contingent on transportation funding, and new provisions around assessment of social and community impacts.
A new Clean Air Rule “fix” bill, HB 2957, was introduced by Rep. Fitzgibbon on Friday afternoon. The bill appears to be largely similar to SHB 2892, with the addition of a pause on the energy code and some preemption language.
Upcoming Events
Ways & Means (Senate) – SHR 4, JACB – 3/2 @ 10:00am
- ESHB 2248 – Public Hearing – Expanding equitable access to the benefits of renewable energy through community solar projects. (If measure is referred to committee.)
- E2SHB 2311 – Exec Session – Amending state greenhouse gas emission limits for consistency with the most recent assessment of climate change science.
Transportation (Senate) – SHR 1, JACB – 3/2 @ 1:30pm
- E2SHB 1110 – Public Hearing – Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels.
Monitoring Bills
| Bill # | Abbrev. Title | Short Description | Status | Sponsor |
| E2SHB 1110 (SB 5412) | Greenhouse gas/transp. fuels | Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels. | S Transportation | 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 Ways & Means | Slatter |
| ESHB 2322 (SSB 6497) | Transp. budget, supplemental | Making supplemental transportation appropriations for the 2019-2021 fiscal biennium. | H Passed 3rd | Fey |
| SHB 2324 (ESSB 6248) | Capital budget, supplemental | Concerning the capital budget. | H Rules R | Tharinger |
| SHB 2325 (ESSB 6168) | Operating budget, supplement | Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations. | H Rules R | 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 |
| HB 2957 | Greenhouse gases/indirect | Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by providing authority for the regulation of indirect sources under the clean air act and implementing standards and programs that reduce emissions associated with buildings. | 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 Approps | 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 Rules R | Sheldon |
| ESSB 6168 (SHB 2325) | Operating budget, supplement | Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations. | H Passed 3rd | Rolfes |
| ESSB 6248 (SHB 2324) | Capital budget, supplemental | Concerning the capital budget. | S Passed 3rd | Frockt |
Dead Bills
| Bill # | Abbrev. Title | Short Description | Status | Sponsor |
| 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 |
| ESHB 2248 (SB 6223) | Community solar projects | Expanding equitable access to the benefits of renewable energy through community solar projects. | H Passed 3rd | 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 X | Brown |
| SB 6222 (E2SHB 2405) | Comm. property/clean energy | Concerning commercial property assessed clean energy and resilience. | S Environment, E | Lovelett |
| SB 6223 (ESHB 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 Rules 2 | Carlyle |