From the CEO

Welcome to 2023! As your regional chamber of commerce, our advocacy includes working in Olympia, where we focus on bringing state policymakers a broad-based business perspective from the Seattle metro area. We also coordinate regularly with our state-level counterparts at the Association of Washington Business, the Washington Roundtable, and others in our region and state to support an aligned approach to our shared priorities.

Our year will start fast with a 105-day state legislative session beginning Jan. 9. We plan to focus our advocacy on issues we hear about most from both our members and the voters, including pushing legislation to increase housing supply for more people across all income ranges throughout our region.

There is a ton of energy from multiple stakeholder groups on this topic and we will continue to seek out partnerships – including with some unusual suspects – to ensure meaningful progress is made on housing and affordability this session.

We just released our 2023 Legislative Agenda highlighting additional priorities including:

  • Supporting initiatives to recruit and retain staff
  • Supporting industries that were hit hardest by the pandemic
  • Prioritizing efforts that advance regional solutions to homelessness and public safety
  • Fixing the Long-Term Care Act so employees who pay the tax can access benefits
  • Revitalizing our small business economy, with an emphasis on supporting BIPOC- and women-owned businesses
  • Supporting equitable, accessible, affordable, and resilient transportation policies and investments that promote the mobility of people and freight throughout our region
  • And more

2023 Legislative Agenda

See you this session,

Rachel

2023 Pre-Session Report

By Boswell Consulting

It is time for legislators to head to Olympia for the 2023 legislative session. The 105-day session begins Jan. 9 and will be the first time since the pandemic began that the legislature will be meeting in person. As with all odd-numbered years, this year is the first half of the biennial budget cycle, so one of the major tasks ahead for lawmakers is passing a balanced budget that will guide state spending for the next two years.

New Faces

Following the November 2022 midterm election, the Democratic party increased its majority by one seat in both the House and Senate. Democrats control the Senate, 29-20, and the House, 58-40. These increases for Democrats are due to victories in the 42nd legislative district race, where incumbent Sen. Simon Sefzik (R) was defeated by Rep. Sharon Shewmake (D), and in the 10th legislative district race, where incumbent Greg Gilday (R) was defeated by Clyde Shavers (D).

This year is notable in how many new people are joining the legislature as well as for changes in leadership. In total, there are 27 new legislators this year because of last year’s turnover, and about 10 new committee chairs. While the session will take place in person in 2023, committee chairs can run their committees in a hybrid manner if they choose. Managing the volume of committee testimony with both in-person and virtual options may be challenging and it is yet to be seen how that will play out.

Legislators started their work to gear up for the 2023 legislative session last fall. During Legislative Assembly Days, Nov. 28-Dec. 2, the 27 new members of the Washington State House and Senate went through orientation and sat in on committee work sessions. Committees in all four caucuses worked to finalize 2023 committee structures and assignments.

Priorities

In a recent press conference, Senate Democratic leaders expressed their priorities for the 2023 legislative session, including housing supply, homelessness, behavioral health, protecting reproductive health, childcare, and the success of small businesses. You can watch that press conference here.

At the end of 2022, Gov. Jay Inslee released his 2023-2025 budget proposal. In total, Inslee proposed $70.4 billion for the 2023-25 Operating Budget with spending focused on housing and homelessness, behavioral health, and climate change. The governor’s budget is the beginning of the discussion. Both the House and Senate will draft their own budget proposals, typically releasing them after the February revenue forecast. The budgets will eventually be negotiated and adopted before adjourning the 2023 Legislative Session in early April.

Important Dates:
Feb. 17 – House of Origin Policy Cutoff
Feb. 24 – House of Origin Fiscal Cutoff
March 8 – House of Origin Floor Cutoff
March 29 – Opposite House Policy Cutoff
April 4 – Opposite House Fiscal Cutoff
April 12 – Opposite House Floor Cutoff
April 23 – Sine Die

Have questions or want to get engaged? Email sarahc@www.seattlechamber.com.