Published date: February 25, 2025

APWA Upcoming Events Report

On Friday, we reached the first session deadline. Policy bills must be passed from their committee of origin, or they will not progress further in the legislative session. Nearly 2,000 bills have been introduced so far.

The fiscal committees now have a week to review all bills with fiscal impacts, with a deadline of February 28th. Only bills necessary to implement the budget or that have been moved to each chamber’s Rules Committee will remain under consideration. It is anticipated that many bills will not advance due to the state’s looming budget crisis.

Next week, Governor Ferguson is expected to hold a press conference, possibly on Wednesday, to discuss various agency budget cuts. State agencies have been conducting multiple budget reduction exercises, cutting expenditures by 4%, 6%, 8%, and 11%. Further details regarding these cuts are expected by the end of the week.

The transportation budgets are likely to be released by the last week of March. The primary challenge is addressing a $4 billion deficit over the next six years. If a balanced budget is crafted for the next three biennium, significant cuts to projects and programs will be required, potentially including partial reallocation from the multimodal account to cover project overruns. Alternatively, budgeting for only the next two biennium would result in less severe cuts. Both scenarios assume no additional revenue is approved by the Legislature.

APWA is tracking a lot of bills this session. Below are hearings that pertain to a few of them:

Appropriations (House) – HHR A and Virtual JLOB – 2/24 @ 1:30pm

SHB 1503 – Public Hearing – Furthering digital equity and opportunity in Washington state.

Transportation (House) – HHR B and Virtual JLOB – 2/24 @ 1:30pm

HB 1970 – Public Hearing – Concerning state highway construction project alternative contracting procedures.
HB 1633 – Public Hearing – Concerning prime contractor bidding submission requirements on public works contracts.
SHB 1733 – Public Hearing – Increasing the reimbursement cap for moving and relocation expenses incurred by persons affected by agency displacements.

Transportation (Senate) – SHR 1 and Virtual J.A. Cherberg – 2/24 @ 1:30pm

SB 5061 – Public Hearing – Requiring certain wages in public works contracts to be at least the prevailing wage in effect when the work is performed.

Ways & Means (Senate) – SHR 4 and Virtual JACB – 2/24 @ 1:30pm

SSB 5176 – Public Hearing – Implementing prompt pay recommendations from the capital projects advisory review board.
SSB 5033 – Public Hearing – Concerning sampling or testing of biosolids for PFAS chemicals.
SSB 5284 – Public Hearing – Improving Washington’s solid waste management outcomes.

Capital Budget (House) – HHR B and Virtual JLOB – 2/25 @ 9:00am

SHB 1549 – Public Hearing – Modifying the responsible bidder criteria for public works projects.
SHB 1458 – Public Hearing – Reducing embodied carbon emissions of buildings and building materials.
HB 2016 – Public Hearing – Concerning an additive capital budget for state matching funds and federal expenditure authority for broadband.
HB 2021 – Public Hearing – Authorizing the public works board to issue bonds for the purpose of financing public works infrastructure projects.

Transportation (Senate) – SHR 1 and Virtual J.A. Cherberg – 2/25 @ 1:30pm

SB 5773 – Public Hearing – Concerning alternative procurement and delivery models for transportation projects.
SSB 5061 – Exec Session – Requiring certain wages in public works contracts to be at least the prevailing wage in effect when the work is performed.

Capital Budget (House) – HHR B and Virtual JLOB – 2/26 @ 9:00am

HB 1967 – Exec Session – Modifying bonding requirements in the design portion of design-build public works projects.

Appropriations (House) – HHR A and Virtual JLOB – 2/26 @ 1:30pm

SHB 1150 – Exec Session – Improving Washington’s solid waste management outcomes.

Ways & Means (Senate) – SHR 4 and Virtual JACB – 2/26 @ 1:30pm

SSB 5155 – Public Hearing – Extending a program to streamline the environmental permitting process for salmon recovery projects.