LEGISLATURE 2023-24: Legislative Newsletter (Feb. 12, 2023/LWVWA)

Editor’s Note: The League of Women Voters (LWV) of Washington sent this legislative newsletter on Feb. 12, 2023. Our mission at the Voter Interests Project is to monitor elected officials and ballot measures; we generally do not report on the activities of non-profit organizations. However, the LWV Whidbey Island chapter conducts candidate forums during most election cycles, and are therefore of particular interest to voters. The LWV of Washington’s website states, “The League is a Nonpartisan Source You Can Trust”; however, the LWV does take positions on public policy. Our observation is that their policy positions inform their management of voter forums. Therefore, we believe it to be of interest to our readers to know the positions for which the LWV advocates.

Action Alerts

Click on the links below to learn more about bills currently being reviewed in the state legislature. You can “take action” on these most pressing bills by sending a suggested, editable email to legislators, encouraging them to vote to promote the League issue in question.

Help Pass the Wealth Tax

Right now, the top 100 people in Washington State, who own more than $250 million in financial assets, contribute only about 1/6 of what people making $26,000 per year pay in state and local taxes. The proposed Wealth Tax, HB 1473, would help make Washington’s tax system more fair and would generate nearly $2 billion more for the state each year. Please help get this measure passed by letting the House Finance Committee know you want them to pass this bill.

Click here to sign in PRO on HB 1473

Click here to ask the House Finance Committee to vote YES on HB 1473, the Wealth Tax.

Expand Revenue Generation & Economic Opportunities from Natural Climate Solutions

With HB 1789, the Department of Natural Resources is uniquely positioned to tap into emerging markets for carbon credits and other ecosystem services. This new revenue stream will generate revenue for beneficiaries and fund critical agency efforts which will increase the resiliency of the state’s natural resources including forests, agricultural and aquatic resources.

Click here to sign in PRO on HB 1789

Click here to ask the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee to vote YES on HB 1789

Rethink & Pass the WRAP Act

Are you ready to rethink and have better options for our solid waste so that there is more waste reduction, reuse and recycling? Then we need to pass the WRAP Act (HB 1131) to provide more possibilities so that it can be easier to recycle by increasing access throughout our state, to have a clear common list of what can be recycled statewide, to have companies produce packaging materials that we can actually recycle. Let’s move HB 1131 out of Appropriations and onto the next step to becoming law.

Click here to sign in PRO on HB 1131 by Feb 16 at 7 a.m.

Click here to ask the House Appropriations Committee to vote YES for HB 1131.

This Week in the Legislature

Bills are moving on!

This past week is one that many legislators and lobbyists consider to be the busiest. It is the week before the cutoff for policy committees in the house of origin, where bills start, and is typically jammed with public hearings. The following week is typically needed for executive sessions, where votes are taken.

Our Issue Chairs have been very busy testifying in person and in writing, though sometimes they sign on PRO or CON, as we ask you to do, because there are too many people lined up to testify.

The cutoff for policy committees in the house of origin this year is February 17. If a bill has not moved out of the policy committee by that date, it is “dead,” unless rescued later as NTIB, which means “necessary to implement the budget.”

If a bill has a financial cost of more than $50,000 associated with it, it must go to a fiscal committee. Bills in fiscal committees – the Senate Ways & Means Committee and the House Finance and Appropriations Committee – have a cutoff of February 24.

Once a bill has cleared these processes in the house of origin, it moves to the other chamber and the process begins again with the policy committee in that chamber.

Bills that don’t need to go through the fiscal committees or those that pass those committees go to the Rules Committee. In that committee, bills are prioritized for action by the full House or Senate, and we are now seeing more and more bills going to the floor for action. For more information about how this process works, you can watch this video, created by our WA legislative support staff.

Our Action Alerts this week include asking for your help in developing a wealth tax, a bill to help protect our old growth forests, and protecting the environment from toxic fluids in discarded appliances.

Be sure to follow the progress of the bills you care about, and scroll down for direct links to particular areas.

There are several other ways you can follow the hearings and legislative process:

Via TVW (Washington State’s public affairs TV network), and
On the Washington State Legislature website.

Check out the weekly updates for each issue (below) for information on how to testify, and how to sign on PRO or CON to proposed legislation.

The 2023 Legislative Issues

LWVWA Legislative Issues From the 2023 Washington State Legislative Session

Click on an issue to learn more about session results on bills the League supported and “This Week’s Updates” to read the issue chair’s report on this past week.

Democracy

Elections | Issue Overview | Read this week’s update

Money in Politics | Issue Overview | Read this week’s update

Education | Issue Overview | Read this week’s update

Redistricting | Issue Overview | New task force underway – see updates

Environment

Climate Crisis and Energy | Issue Overview | Read this week’s update

Forests | Issue Overview | Read this week’s update

Growth Management | Issue Overview | Read this week’s update

Solid Waste Management | Issue Overview | Read this week’s update

Transportation | Issue Overview | Read this week’s update

Social and Economic Policy