2020 Legislative Report: Week 5

Week Overview

General Update

Tuesday, February 11th marked the second cutoff of session – House of Origin Fiscal Cutoff. By this date all bills referred to fiscal committees (Appropriations, Finance and Capital Budget Committees in the House and Ways & Means in the Senate, and also both Transportation Committees) had to pass out of that committee or they are considered dead.

Following fiscal cutoff, focus quickly shifted to floor action. Starting Wednesday, both chambers convened for floor sessions where they debate, potentially amend, and vote on bills that are pulled from Rules. This will continue to be the focus until house of origin floor cutoff on Wednesday, February 19th. After the house of origin floor cutoff, bills that are still in play will go to the opposite house where they will be referred to committees for consideration.

In addition to February 19th being house of origin floor cutoff, it is also the day of the next revenue forecast. The forecast is important as it helps guide legislators in terms of money available, which informs how much funding they have to work with in crafting their proposed budgets. Typically, the first budget is released shortly after the forecast. Each chamber alternates taking turns writing and releasing their budget. This year, the House will release their budgets (operating, capital, and transportation) first, followed shortly afterwards by the Senate. It is anticipated the budgets will be released the week of the 24th.

Since the start of session on January 13th, 2,142 new bills have been introduced, making for a grand total of 4,366 bills so far this biennium.

Click here to watch this week’s TVW Week in Review, which provides a good wrap-up of the past week in Olympia.

Session Primers

As we go through session, I will periodically do brief primers on things related to session and the legislative process. We often use jargon and things move very quickly, so our goal with these primers is to help you better understand what is going on in Olympia as we go along. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

A Primer on the Rules Committee

Check out this short and interesting video from House Speaker Laurie Jinkins that explains the role of the Rules Committee.

Before a bill can make it to the chamber floor for debate and vote it must first make it out of the Rules Committee. This can be a fairly confusing process, especially since the House and Senate use different terminology for parts of the Rules Committee process. To help better understand this process I wanted to provide a primer on the Rules Committee.

The Rules committee is a powerful committee and is often referred to as "The Gatekeeper". Some people also say that the Rules committee is where bills go to die. This is because it is a big hurdle to get pulled out of the Rules committee and brought to the floor and many bills don't make it through. The process for getting pulled from Rules can seem complicated and can also be difficult to influence.

The simplified explanation of the Rules committee is that it is a two-step process to determine which bills will be placed on the floor calendar for amendment, debate, and ultimately for a vote by the full chamber (House or Senate). The following is a brief summary of each chamber’s process for the Rules Committee. The processes are very similar but given the use of different terminology and some nuances I am explaining them separately. You can also get more details on the Rules Committee here.

Senate Rules Committee Process

In Senate Rules there are two calendars – the white sheet and the green sheet. The white sheet is where bills are sent immediately after passing out of a standing committee. The green sheet is a consideration calendar made up of bills that have been “pulled” by Rules committee members from the white sheet and is essentially the list of bills eligible to go to the floor. Bills can be pulled from the white to green sheet without debate or vote. Senate Rules Committee members get a predetermined number of pulls. Once on the green sheet they are eligible to pull to the floor at the next Rules meeting, but to make it to the floor they are first debated and voted on by Rules committee members. Bills can also be pulled in “packages” where groups of bills may be voted out of Rules at one time. Senate Rules also allows what is known as a “leadership pull”, which is where a package of bills can be pulled by leadership from the Review and/or Consideration calendars to the floor. If a bill is voted out of the Rules committee it is added to the floor calendar for second and third reading.

House Rules Committee Process

There are also two calendars in House Rules – the “Rules Review” calendar and the “Rules Consideration” calendar. Bills referred from a standing committee are placed on the Rules Review calendar. Rules Committee members can then pull a bill from the Rules Review calendar to the Rules Consideration calendar. This is the first pull. House Rules Committee members get a predetermined number of pulls. At a later meeting a member can do a second pull to move the bill from the Rules Consideration calendar to the floor calendar. Rules members vote on every motion to pull a bill. If a bill is voted out of the Rules committee it is added to the floor calendar for second and third reading. House Rules also allows what is known as a “leadership pull”, which is where a package of bills can be pulled from the Review and/or Consideration calendars to the floor.

A Primer on First, Second, and Third Reading

During floor activity, we also hear a lot about 2nd and 3rd reading. These terms are important steps in the legislative process but it can be difficult to understand the difference between them. In addition, I’m also going to explain what first reading is since bills that passed off the floor are again having 1st reading in their bill status.

For all three readings, a bill is almost never actually read in its entirety. This is why you will hear the Speaker or Lt. Governor stop the person reading the bill after a few words and say, ‘last line.’ A member can ask for a bill to be read in its entirety, but this rarely happens and is typically a stall tactic when it is requested.

• First Reading: This is the first of three readings required to pass bills. When a bill is on first reading, that is when it is first introduced into a chamber and is referred to standing committees. At this point in session, we are seeing the second round of first readings because bills that passed out of their house of origin are being introduced and read into the opposite house for the first time and then referred to a standing committee.

• Second Reading: When a bill appears on the calendar for second reading, this means it can be put on the order of consideration and brought to the floor for debate and can be amended. After the debate and potential amendment, the bill in theory would be returned to the Rules Committee where it must receive a favorable vote before being placed on the third reading calendar for final passage. This referral to back Rules [between second and third reading] is almost always bypassed and the bill is placed on final passage immediately following its second reading. This happens when a member says, “Let the Rules be suspended, that (the bill) be advanced to third reading, let the second reading be considered the third, and the bill be placed on final passage.” This means they will be doing second reading and then immediately following will do the third reading without the bill going back to Rules.

• Third Reading: This is the final consideration of a bill before either house. The bill can be debated, voted on, or tabled. It cannot be amended during third reading. Final passage of a bill takes a constitutional majority.

Priority Areas

Affordable Housing/Homelessness

Affordable and supportive housing

Rep. Robinson sponsored HB 2797, which amends the local sales tax for affordable or supportive housing by extending the deadline to adopt a resolution of intent to adopt legislation to authorize the tax to July 28, 2020. The deadline to adopt legislation to authorize the tax is extending to December 1, 2020. SB 6631 was amended and passed by the Senate Housing Stability and Affordability committee and referred to the Senate Ways and Means committee but did not move forward before fiscal cut-off. HB 2797 was heard on February 7th and passed by the House Finance committee on February 11th. The bill has been referred to the House Rules committee for further consideration.

County fees on the real estate excise tax

Rep. Chopp sponsored HB 2919, which increased the percentage of real estate excise taxes (REET) retained by counites with a population of less than 230,000 to 1.48 percent and directs a portion of the REET retained by King County to go to the maintenance and operations of permanent supportive housing programs. The amended bill states that 25 percent of the REET proceeds retained by King County must go to the maintenance and operations of permanent supportive housing program in the county. The bill has been placed on 2nd reading and awaits further action.

Excise tax on businesses

Rep. Macri introduced HB 2907, which allows the King County council to impose an annual payroll tax on businesses with employees who earn at least $150,000 a year and the money raised would be spent on affordable housing, public safety, homeless services and behavioral health services. The amended bill requires representation from cities and elected state officials from each subregion of the county be included on the advisory and accountability commission. HB 2907 has been referred to the House Rules committee for further consideration.

Homeless shelter capacity

Rep. Ryu sponsored HB 2649 at the request of Governor Inslee, to help meet shelter capacity needs in cities and counties. The bill that was heard by the House Housing, Community Development & Veterans committee on January 28th was a proposed substitute and it removed all the provisions of the underlying bill. It requires counties with a population greater than 40,000 and cities with a population of at least 15,000 located within those counties to review current zoning and development regulations; report to the Department of Commerce by December 1, 2021, with a list of all parcels within the jurisdictions that are zoned, suitable, and potentially feasible for development of additional shelters, sanctioned camping capacity, affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, and behavioral health facilities; and identify each parcel the number of expected units or capacity for services, the type of facility that could be developed, and any populations that could not be served. The proposed substitute was adopted and passed out of the House Housing, Community Development and Veterans committee on February 7th. HB 2649 has been placed on second reading and awaits further action by the House.

Impact Fees

Sen. Zeiger introduced SB 6364, which authorizes local government to implement a tiered fee structure in their impact fee schedules for single-family homes based on square footage of the housing unit. The bill passed out of the Senate Housing Stability and Affordability committee on February 6th and has been referred to the Senate Rules committee for further consideration.

Sen. Zeiger sponsored SB 6386, which authorizes local governments to provide up to a full waiver from impact fees for qualifying low-income housing projects without any requirement to pay the exempted fees from other public funds. The bill passed out of the Senate Housing Stability and Affordability committee on February 3rd and has been referred to the Senate Rules committee for further consideration.

Multi-family tax exemption

Rep. Walen and Sen. Kuderer introduced HB 2620/SB 6411, which allows cities and counties to designate a residential targeted area and provide property tax exemptions for eligible multi-unit residential housing projects in urban centers. It also allows cities to authorize an additional 12-year extension to housing projects currently receiving a property tax exemption. HB 2620 was amended and passed by House Appropriations on February 10th. The amended bill makes several changes, which can be found here. It has been placed on second reading and awaits further action by the House. SB 6411 was amended and passed by Senate Ways & Means on February 11th. The amended bill prohibits a city or county from approving applications for new tax exempt properties in the following calendar year if the city or county fails to meet the reporting requirements provided in statute. It has been placed on second reading and awaits further action by the Senate.

Sales tax for affordable housing

Sen. Hunt introduced SB 6126, which allows the local sales and use tax for affordable housing to be imposed by councilmanic authority rather than by a majority of voters. The bill also removes an outdated provision that required cities in King County to wait until October of 2015 before submitting a local sales and use tax for affordable housing to city voters. The bill was heard on January 14th, passed out of the Senate Local Government committee on January 23rd, and has been referred to the Rules committee for further consideration.

Rep. Doglio sponsored HB 1590 during the 2019 session and it retained its present status of 2nd Reading for the 2020 session. The bill authorizes county or city legislative authorities to impose the local sales and use tax for housing and related services and eliminates the requirement that the imposition of the tax be voter approved and instead allows for the tax to be imposed by the county council.

Land Use/GMA

Accessory dwelling units

Rep. Gregerson introduced HB 2570, which creates a statewide mandate to remove certain regulatory barriers to facilitate the construction of accessory dwelling units (ADU). The bill creates a statewide standard for accessory dwelling units by requiring one ADU on all lots zoned for single family homes, removes the provision requiring off-street parking, and removes owner occupancy requirements. It also pre-empts local governments from adopting any different standards. The bill was amended and passed by the House Environment and Energy committee on February 5th.The amended bill eliminates the requirement that covered counties and cities choose 3 of 5 specified accessory dwelling unit (ADU) policy outcomes, and instead adds those 5 policy outcomes to the menu of ADU options that covered cities and counties are encouraged to adopt. It allows covered cities and counties to adopt ADU policies that include owner occupancy restrictions that apply to owner that won more than 5 ADUs within a county and to ADUS used as short-term rentals. The bill was heard, amended, and passed by the House Appropriations committee on February 11th. The amended bill eliminates the requirement that counties and cities choose three of five specified ADU policy outcomes and instead add those five policy outcomes to the menu of ADU option that cities and counties are encouraged to adopt for which they are exempt from SEPA and GMA appeals. It has been placed on second reading and awaits further action.

Sen. Kuderer and Rep. Walen sponsored SB 6231/HB 2630, which provides a 3-year property tax exemption for the construction of an attached or detached accessory dwelling unit. SB 6231 was heard on January 15th and was amended and passed out of the Senate Housing Stability and Affordability committee on January 27th. The amended bill limits the property tax exemption for improvements to single-family dwellings to only include the construction of accessory dwelling units. It has been referred to Ways & Means for further consideration. HB 2630 has been referred to House Finance but not yet scheduled for a hearing. Neither bill moved out of their fiscal committees before cut-off and are now considered dead.

Sen. Liias introduced SB 6617, which requires counties planning under the Growth Management Act and cities within such counties to authorize up to two accessory dwelling units (ADUs) per lot, to not require the provision of off-street parking for ADUs close to major transit stops, and to not require an owner to occupy an ADU or other housing unit on the lot unless the owner owns more than five ADUs. The bill is modeled after Burien’s ADU ordinance. The bill was amended and passed by the Senate Housing Stability and Affordability committee on February 5th and referred to the Senate Rules committee for further consideration. The amended bill expands the owner-occupancy requirements for ADUs to include when the ADU is a short-term rental. It has been referred to the Senate Rules committee for further consideration.

Climate change in the growth management act

Rep. Duerr introduced HB 2427, which adds climate change to the planning goals that guide the development and adoption of city and county comprehensive plans and development regulation under the Growth Management Act. HB 2427 was amended and passed by the House Environment and Energy committee on February 4th. The amended bill removes references to vehicle miles traveled and by requiring jurisdictions to develop and implement plans, polices, and strategies that help achieve emission reductions limits, rather than by requiring jurisdictions to ensure that plans, policies, and strategies adopt to and mitigate the effects of a changing climate. Additionally, it limits the applicability of the climate change goal to counties required to develop a GMA review and evaluation program or to counties with a population of at least 300,000 and to the cities within those counites. The bill has been placed on second reading and awaits further action.

Comprehensive plan updates

Rep. Fitzgibbon sponsored HB 2342, which changes the frequency of comprehensive plan updates under the Growth Management Act from every 8 years to every 10 years. It also requires counties and cities to update certain portions of their comprehensive plans at the 5-year mark between full updates of their comprehensive plans. The bill was amended and passed by the House Environment and Energy committee on February 4th. The amended bill provides small and slow growing cities and counties an extension of 24 months to complete the required 5-year review and possible revision of their comprehensive plans. The bill has been referred to House Rules for further consideration.

Net ecological gain

Rep. Lekanoff introduced HB 2550, which directs the Office of Financial Management to submit a report to the Legislature by December 1, 2020, that assesses how to incorporate a standard of net ecological gain, and an associated mitigation hierarchy, into the Growth Management Act (GMA), Shoreline Management Act (SMA), Construction Projects in State Waters/Hydraulic Projects Approvals (HPAs), and Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) wherever the existing standard is those laws is less protective of ecological integrity than the standard of net ecological gain. The bill was amended and passed by the House Environment and Energy committee on February 4th and was heard in the House Appropriations committee on February 8th. The amended bill amends the definition of net ecological gain and eliminates the defined mitigation hierarchy to be used in net ecological gain. It also eliminates provisions that: (1) addressed aquatic resources compensatory mitigation; (2) declared net ecological gain to be the policy of the state; and, (3) required state agencies to adopt net ecological gain where state law provided discretion for them to do so. The bill did not move out of the House Appropriations committee before fiscal cut-off and is now considered dead.

Urban housing supply

Rep. Fitzgibbon and Sen. Salomon sponsored HB 2343/SB 6334 makes changes to last year’s HB 1923 which required certain cities to take certain actions to increase residential building capacity and housing affordability. The bill modifies the list of planning actions certain cities are encouraged to take in order to increase residential building capacity, extends the date by which certain planning actions must be taken in order for those actions to be exempt from administrative or judicial appeal under the GMA and SEPA, and directs the Department of Ecology to initiate a rule-making process to remove parking as an element of the environment and as a component of the environmental checklist. HB 2343 was amended and passed out the House Environment and Energy committee on January 28th. The amended bill changes the date by which certain planning actions must be taken in order for those actions to be exempt from administrative or judicial appeal under the Growth Management Act (GMA) and the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) from April 1, 2021 to April 1, 2023; and changes the frequency of transit service that triggers a cap on minimum residential parking requirements for certain affordable housing units, from four times per hour to two times per hour. The bill has been placed on 2nd Reading and awaits further action. SB 6334 was amended and passed by the Senate Housing Stability and Affordability committee on February 5th. It has been referred to Senate Rules for further consideration. Both bills now mirror each other.

Climate Change and the Environment

Greenhouse gas emissions

Rep. Fitzgibbon introduced HB 1110 during the 2019 legislative session and it directs Department of Ecology (DOE) to adopt a rule establishing a clean fuels program to limit greenhouse gas emissions per unit of transportation fuel energy to 10 percent below 2017 levels by 2028 and 20 percent below 2017 levels by 2035. On January 29th the House took up HB 1110 and after a 4-hour debate passed it with a 52- 44 vote count. The bill has been referred to the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology committee for further consideration

Rep. Slatter sponsored HB 2311 on behalf of Governor Inslee and it revises the 2050 state greenhouse gas emissions reduction limits from 50 percent to 95 percent below 1990 levels and requires the state to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emission. Additionally, it amends greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for state agencies and requires all agencies to seek all practicable opportunities to cost-effectively maximize carbon sequestration. SHB 2311 modifies the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for both the state as a whole and for state government, to refer to actual tonnages of greenhouse gas emissions reductions in addition to percentage reductions. The bill was heard in House Appropriations on February 3rd and was amended and passed out of the committee on February 8th. The amended bill adds a reference to "natural and working lands" to intent language regarding increasing carbon sequestration; amends a policy of the state to prioritize "carbon sequestration" rather than "sequestration activities"; And requires all state agencies to seek practicable opportunities to maximize "carbon storage" in addition to "carbon sequestration." 2SHB 2311 has been placed on second reading and awaits further action.

Transportation

Automated traffic safety cameras

Sen. Liias and Rep. Fitzgibbon sponsored SB 5789/HB 1793, which establishes a pilot program through the end of 2021 for the use of automated traffic safety cameras on certain state and local roadways in or near downtown Seattle and requires the Seattle City Council to enact an ordinance authorizing their use. During the 2019 session, HB 1793 did pass out of the House but ran up against session timelines and did not move out of the Senate. On January 30th the House passed the bill with a 56-40 vote count. It has been referred to the Senate Transportation committee for further consideration. SB 5789 was amended and passed by the Senate Transportation on February 10th. The bill was amended to extend the pilot program to June 30, 2023; adjust the location where cameras may be used to 4 miles from the downtown on non- interstate freeways; and requires that an automated traffic safety camera may not use facial recognition technology in real time or after capturing any information. SB 5789 has been referred to the Senate Rules committee for further consideration.

Bicyclists

Sen. Billig and Rep. Fitzgibbon introduced SB 6208/HB 2358, allows bicyclists the right to treat a stop sign as a yield. The “safety stop” is described as a rolling stop and increases safety at intersections by allowing a person bicycling to avoid waiting in the blind spot of a motor vehicle and to get out ahead of following motor vehicles, creating space and less likelihood for interaction between the motor vehicle and bicyclists. SB 6208 was amended to replace the term “bicyclists” with the phase “person operating a bicycle” and requires a person operating a bicycle stop for a stop signal displayed by a school bus when the rules of the road require a stop. On February 12th, the Senate passed the bill with a 44-1 vote count and has been referred to the House Transportation committee for further consideration. HB 2358 was amended and passed out of the House Transportation committee on January 29th. The amended bill requires every bicyclist approaching a stop sign used by a school bus that has stopped on a roadway must follow the requirement that all vehicles must stop before reaching the school bus and may not proceed until the school bus stop sign is no longer activated. HB 2358 has been placed on 2nd reading and awaits further action.

Fish passage barriers

Rep. Barkis introduced HB 2503, which adds tribal governments to the entities that the state Fish Passage Barrier Removal Board (Board) must coordinate with, to the extent the tribal governments are willing to participate and choose to share certain information; requires the Board to prepare a prioritized list of fish passage barrier removal projects every even-numbered year until 2031, and allows WSDOT to only undertake fish passage barrier removal projects on the list, necessary for completion of another WSDOT project, or as directed in statute or an appropriations acts; and creates the Fish Passage Barrier Removal Account, which is allowed to keep its interest, and limits expenditures from the account to fish passage barrier removal projects on WSDOT’s land or on the Board’s list. The bill is scheduled for a hearing on February 20th in the House Transportation committee.

Health as a transportation policy goal

Rep. Riccelli sponsored HB 2461, which adds health to the list of transportation policy goals the Department of Transportation must consider for the planning, operation, performance of, and investment in, the state’s transportation system. HB 2461 was passed by the House Transportation committee on February 11th and referred to the House Rules committee for further consideration.

Initiative 976

On February 12th, a King County judge largely upheld Initiative 976. The judge rejected most of the arguments that I-976 was unconstitutional, including claims that it contained too many subjects, wrongly rolled back local taxes with a statewide vote and misled voters with the ballot title. However, the judge did not rule on two other claims, one about the initiative’s directive that the state use the private company Kelley Blue Book to calculate car tab taxes and another dealing with the City of Burien, which has sold bonds to be paid back with car-tab tax revenue it collects. Because the ruling did not dispose of all the claims by opponents, the initiative will remain on hold.

Sound Transit

Sen. Liias introduced SB 6606, which requires a regional transit authority that levies a motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) to use new depreciation schedules to determine the value of vehicles; allows vehicle owners to pay the MVET using a Good to Go! Account and to enter into a quarterly or monthly payment plan; and repeals parts of I-976. The bill was passed by the Senate Transportation committee and referred to the Senate Rules committee for further consideration.

Transportation revenue

Rep. Fey sponsored HB 2913, which increases the gas tax by 9.7 cents over ten years to fund the replacement of state culverts as mandated by the fish passage Supreme Court case. The bill is scheduled for a hearing on February 20th in the House Transportation committee.

Looking Ahead

The House will convene on Sunday for floor action. Both chambers will convene Monday through Wednesday for floor option, likely going into the evening on some days. Following Wednesday’s house of origin cutoff, focus will return to committees for hearings on bills referred from the opposite chamber.

Upcoming Dates:

• February 19th - House of Origin Floor Cutoff
• February 28th - Opposite House Policy Cutoff
• March 2nd - Opposite House Fiscal Cutoff
• March 6th - Opposite House Floor Cutoff
• March 12th - Sine Die

Bellevue Chamber Bill Status Report

Bellevue Chamber Weekly Report February 16, 2020

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