Week Thirteen
Week 13 is now complete and the 2021 Legislative Session is winding down. Sunday, April 11th, is the final day for bills, other than those deemed necessary to implement the budget, to pass the opposite chamber from where they were introduced in order to keep advancing this session. After today there are no more cut offs, the next and final landmark is the April 25th Sine Die date. To view bills that have been signed by the Governor click here. To watch a summary of the highlights from this week click here.
This week was filled with floor action in both chambers that often went late into the night. There was action on several police accountability proposals, including Rep. Jesse Johnson’s bill reforming police tactics and equipment (HB 1054), and Sen. Pedersen’s bill on certification and hiring (SB 5051). The Senate also voted on Senator Carlyle’s cap and invest proposal (SB 5126) and Rep. Fitzgibbon’s low carbon fuel standard proposal (HB 1091).
Transportation package negotiations took another step forward last week, with Sen. Hobbs holding a work session on his proposed Forward Washington package. There is now legislative language, SB 5482, which will be heard in the Senate Transportation Committee on Monday, April 12th. There has been no additional action on Rep. Fey’s package, HB 1564, since its initial public hearing on April 1st.
Next week the focus will be on budget negotiations, and concurrence votes. Any piece of legislation that was amended in the opposite chamber must go back to the House of Origin for concurrence before it can be signed into law. At this point we expect the consensus operating budget to be released the week of April 19th.
Important Dates:
Feb 15 – House of Origin Policy Cutoff
Feb 22 – House of Origin Fiscal Cutoff
March 9 – House of Origin Floor Cutoff
March 26 – Opposite House Policy Cutoff
April 2 – Opposite House Fiscal Cutoff April 11 – Opposite House Floor Cutoff April 25 – Sine Die
We had both the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (HB 1091) and the Cap & Invest (SB 5126) legislation come out of the Senate this week. The Low Carbon Fuel Standard will return to the House for concurrence. The House is expected to not concur with the Senate changes which will cause the bill to go to a conference committee. Cap & Invest will take a couple of weeks to move through the House, and there continues to be quite a bit of question around this, especially from the environmental justice community. Public hearing on SB 5126 in the House Environment & Energy committee is scheduled for Wednesday, April 14th. All of these are linked to a statewide transportation package, which further complicates these issues.
Decarbonization of buildings legislation brought forward by Representative Ramel HB 1084 remains in the House Appropriations Committee and is unlikely to move forward this year. The HEAL Act legislation sponsored by Senator Saldana, SB 5141, passed the House on Saturday, April 10th (56-41).
We continue to monitor HB 1513 and HB 1534 brought forward by Representatives Lekanoff and Shewmake concerning a proposed carbon tax and bond legislative package. While neither bill is scheduled for public hearing at this time, these proposals are not subject to cutoffs.
After passing out of the Senate Energy, Environment and Technology Committee last week, HB 1280 is on the Senate floor calendar. This legislation sponsored by Representative Ramel would set requirements for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in public facilities design.
Sponsored by Representative Shewmake, HB 1393, related to delaying the stewardship plan and annual report for solar panel manufacturers passed the Senate on Monday, March 29th with a 45-4 vote. Since then, both the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate have signed the legislation, and it will now move to the Governor to be signed into law.
Clean Tech Alliance Bill Status & Upcoming Events Report
Upcoming Events
Environment & Energy (House) – Virtual, – 4/14 @ 8:00am
- E2SSB 5126 – Public Hearing – Concerning the Washington climate commitment act. (Remote testimony.)
| Bill # | Abbrev. Title | Short Description | Status | Sponsor |
| HB 1036 (Dead) | Transportation fuel/carbon | Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuel. | H Env & Energy | Fitzgibbon |
| HB 1046 (Dead) | Community solar programs | Concerning community solar programs. | H Env & Energy | Bateman |
| E2SHB 1050 | Fluorinated gases | Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fluorinated gases. | S Passed 3rd | Fitzgibbon |
| SHB 1080 (ESSB 5083) | Capital budget 2021-2023 | Concerning the capital budget. | S Held | Tharinger |
| SHB 1081 (SSB 5084) | State gen. obligation bonds | Concerning state general obligation bonds and related accounts. | H 2nd Reading | Tharinger |
| SHB 1084 (SB 5093) | Building decarbonization | Reducing statewide greenhouse gas emissions by achieving greater decarbonization of residential and commercial buildings. | H Approps | Ramel |
| E3SHB 1091 (SB 5231) | Transportation fuel/carbon | Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuel. | S Passed 3rd | Fitzgibbon |
| HB 1093 (SB 5091) | Operating budget, 2nd supp. | Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium second supplemental operating appropriations. | H Approps | Ormsby |
| SHB 1094 (ESSB 5092) | Operating budget | Making 2021-2023 fiscal biennium operating appropriations. | H Rules R | Ormsby |
| SHB 1103 (SB 5366) | Building materials | Improving environmental and social outcomes with the production of building materials. | H Approps | Duerr |
| HB 1125 | Energy investments | Incentivizing investment in energy conservation and efficiency measures and expanding opportunities for energy rate discounts to, among other objectives, reduce the energy burden of low-income customers and vulnerable populations. | H Env & Energy | Shewmake |
| HB 1130 | Energy supply/consumers | Concerning consumer affordability and reliability in energy supply. | H Env & Energy | Dye |
| SHB 1135 (SSB 5165) | Transp. budget 2021-2023 | Making transportation appropriations for the 2021-2023 fiscal biennium. | H Rules R | Fey |
| SHB 1204 (SB 5256) | Transp. electrification | Concerning the electrification of transportation. | H Rules R | Macri |
| HB 1280 | Greenhouse gas/facilities | Concerning greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the design of public facilities. | S 2nd Reading | Ramel |
| HB 1393 | Photovoltaic module program | Delaying certain implementation dates for the photovoltaic module stewardship and takeback program. | Del to Gov | Shewmake |
| SHB 1406 (SB 5426) | Wealth tax | Improving the equity of Washington state’s tax code by creating the Washington state wealth tax and taxing extraordinary financial intangible assets. | H Approps | Frame |
| HB 1513 | Carbon emissions | Improving environmental health by reducing carbon emissions through increasing climate resilience and mitigating the effects of climate change by levying a carbon pollution tax, authorizing a climate finance bond program, and investing in clean economic growth. | H Env & Energy | Lekanoff |
| HB 1534 | Carbon pollution tax | Establishing a carbon pollution tax that recognizes the nature of energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries. | H Env & Energy | Shewmake |
| ESSB 5083 (SHB 1080) | Capital budget 2021-2023 | Concerning the capital budget. | H Rules | Frockt |
| SSB 5084 (SHB 1081) | State gen. obligation bonds | Concerning state general obligation bonds and related accounts. | S 2nd Reading | Frockt |
| SB 5091 (HB 1093) | Operating budget, 2nd supp. | Making 2019-2021 fiscal biennium second supplemental operating appropriations. | S Ways & Means | Rolfes |
| ESSB 5092 (SHB 1094) | Operating budget | Making 2021-2023 fiscal biennium operating appropriations. | H Passed 3rd | Rolfes |
| SB 5093 (SHB 1084) | Building decarbonization | Reducing statewide greenhouse gas emissions by achieving greater decarbonization of residential and commercial buildings. | S Environment, E | Liias |
| E2SSB 5126 | Climate commitment act | Concerning the Washington climate commitment act. | H Env & Energy | Carlyle |
| SSB 5165 (SHB 1135) | Transp. budget 2021-2023 | Making transportation appropriations for the 2021-2023 fiscal biennium. | H Passed 3rd | Hobbs |
| SB 5168 | Electric utility advisory | Concerning renewable and nonemitting resources analysis and advisory opinions. | S Environment, E | Short |
| SSB 5174 | Wind turbine blade recycling | Providing for the recycling of wind turbine blades. | S Rules X | Wilson |
| SB 5206 | Energy facility evaluation | Eliminating expedited processing of an alternative energy resource facility fueled by solar energy on certain designated lands before the energy facility site evaluation council. | S Environment, E | Warnick |
| SB 5231 (E3SHB 1091) | Transportation fuel/carbon | Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuel. | S Environment, E | Stanford |
| SB 5244 | Nuclear reactor production | Encouraging the production of advanced nuclear reactors, small modular reactors, and components through the invest in Washington act. | S Environment, E | Brown |
| SB 5256 (SHB 1204) | Transp. electrification | Concerning the electrification of transportation. | S Environment, E | Liias |
| SB 5308 | Hybrid vehicle fees | Reducing certain transportation electrification fees on hybrid vehicles. | S Transportation | Short |
| SB 5373 | Carbon pollution | Concerning carbon pollution. | S Environment, E | Lovelett |
| SB 5415 | Energy facil site eval cncl | Concerning the energy facility site evaluation council. | S Environment, E | Lovelett |