Published date: January 22, 2024
It’s the Third Week of a Short Session and Bills are dying.
The first bill deadline is January 31st, hence this is the last full week of policy committee hearings. Bills not yet heard or scheduled next week are done. The combination of a short session, citizen initiatives that are placing current revenue streams at risk and the large number of legislators running for reelection or new positions are making passage of policy bills very difficult.
Why is this important:
There are many bills we do not want to see pass, and bills not heard and passed from committee by the 31st are “dead” – no longer considered and not becoming law. This is the policy committee deadline. The fiscal committees have until February 5th.
Since the start of this 60-day session, the Legislature has introduced about 1,100 bills. This is on top of those bills introduced last year that failed to pass. Clearly, a lot of bills will not survive these bill deadlines, and, in the coming weeks, it will only get worse.
When the policy committees start up again on February 14th, they begin the process of hearing the opposite chambers bills – senate committees hearing house bills and house committees hearing senate bills. They have a little over 1 week to do so, with most policy committees having only 2 or 3 hearings before the next bill cutoff.
Committee hearings:
Here are the bills scheduled for the week of January 22nd, the third week of the 2024 session:
Labor & Commerce (Senate) – SHR 1 and Virtual J.A. Cherberg – 1/23 @ 10:30am
SB 6192 – Public Hearing – Addressing additional work and change orders on public and private construction projects. (Remote Testimony Available).
Environment & Energy (House) – HHR C and Virtual JLOB – 1/23 @ 4:00pm
HB 2051 – Exec Session – Reducing emissions from small off-road engines.
Local Government (House) – HHR E and Virtual JLOB – 1/24 @ 8:00am
HB 2343 – Public Hearing – Concerning reimbursement by property owners for street, road, and water or sewer projects. (Remote Testimony Available).
Transportation (Senate) – SHR 1 and Virtual J.A. Cherberg – 1/25 @ 4:00pm
SB 6277 – Public Hearing – Creating a new statutory framework for the use of public-private partnerships for transportation projects. (Remote Testimony Available).
Labor & Workplace Standards (House) – HHR D and Virtual JLOB – 1/26 @ 10:30am
HB 2136 – Exec Session – Concerning prevailing wage sanctions, penalties, and debarment.
Local Government (House) – HHR E and Virtual JLOB – 1/26 @ 10:30am
HB 2343 – Exec Session – Concerning reimbursement by property owners for street, road, and water or sewer projects.
Budgets news:
Budget requests must be submitted by the end of this month. The transportation budget writers are telling most folks not to bother; their budget is bleak and they are concerned about groups trying to grab funding from other groups. The capital budget is not much better off.
Deeper dive:
Those that want a deeper understanding of what happened in Olympia this week can visit TVW.org . I suggest watching Inside Olympia or the Legislative Review, which has daily highlights of the session. For example the January 11th show has a good summary of HB 2051, which would adopt the California standards for outdoor gas powered equipment and would phase out their use.
Learn more about previous weeks updates: washington.apwa.org/legislative-update