Week Seven – February 21-25
Week seven was a busy week for the legislature as the opposite policy house committee cutoff was on Thursday. That means if a bill was introduced in the House, it needed to pass through its policy committee in the Senate to still be considered alive, and vice versa for Senate legislation. It is important to note that legislation deemed necessary to implement the budget is exempt from cutoffs.
Transportation Package
The revenue portion of the transportation package, called Move Ahead Washington (SB 5974), has captured the scrutiny of surrounding states because of the fuel export tax, a 6-cent per gallon tax, paid by those in other states on any fuel products exported from Washington’s five refineries. This funding source was part of the initial package, generating an estimated $2 billion for projects.
At this point in time, the export tax is no longer supported by the House and we expect it will be pulled from the package. This creates a $2 billion gap between the revenue and spending sides of the package. Negotiations to address this are ongoing. You can find additional info here. The Chamber continues to support efforts to pass a transportation package this session.
Nurse Staffing
The Seattle Metro Chamber’s Executive Committee voted on February 23 to oppose House Bill 1868, the nurse staffing bill, with an acknowledgement that there is a nurse staffing shortage in Washington state and a commitment to pursuing other strategies to address the nursing shortage. HB 1868 passed the House on February 13, 55-43, and has been proceeding quickly through the Senate. It is scheduled for executive action in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means Committee today.
Budget Updates
In the second half of the biennium, the legislature is tasked with passing Supplemental Operating, Capital and Transportation Budgets. On February 21, both the House and the Senate released their respective versions of the Supplemental Operating Budgets. The Operating Budget that was approved last Spring adopted a $59 billion two-year spending plan. The 2022 supplemental operation budget proposed by the House (HB 1816) increases spending by $6.2 billion while the Senate (SB 5693) increases spending by $5.8 billion.
The Senate’s proposed Supplemental Operating Budget utilizes state and federal money and allots $700 million to address housing homeless, $600 million for schools, and nearly $400 million for retrofitting older schools for seismic activity. Behavioural health and environmental issues were the top priority. Sens. Christine Rolfes (D-23) and June Robinson (D-38) held a press conference surrounding the Senate Democratic Supplemental Operating Budget to discuss their proposal. On Friday evening, the bill was debated on the Senate Floor, where it ultimately passed, 29-19.
House Democrats’ proposal allotted money in the following ways:
- $800 million for K-12 education, $280 million toward childcare
- $364 million for housing and homeless
- $184 million for human services
- $700 million toward public health, vaccines, and COVID-19 response
- $160 million for public safety
- $478 million towards natural resources
- $333 million toward behavioral health
- $200 million for businesses that struggled because of COVID-19
On Monday, a press conference presenting the House Democratic Supplemental Operating Budget was held by House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan (D-47), Appropriations Chair Tim Ormsby (D-3), Finance Chair Noel Frame (D-36), and Appropriations Vice Chairs Mia Gregerson (D-33), Nicole Macri (D-43), and Steve Bergquist (D-11). House Appropriations held a public hearing and took executive action on this legislation over the week. The House is expected to strike their language onto the Senate vehicle and then pass the Senate bill. At that point, the bill will go into conference where House and Senate Budget writers will negotiate a final budget.
Last week, the Senate released a bipartisan Supplemental Capital Budget proposal (SB 5651). The proposal includes:
- $94.8 million in spending from available bond capacity
- $561.6 million from American Rescue Plan Act State Fiscal Recovery Funds
- $290.3 million from federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
The House Supplemental Capital Budget (HB 1781) bipartisan proposal was released on February 21 and it included:
- $77.4 million in spending from available bond capacity
- $637 million from a General Fund-State deposit into the Capital Community Assistance Account
- $263.8 million from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
Both the House and Senate Capital Supplemental Budget proposals make large investments into housing affordability and homelessness, behavioral health, and broadband infrastructure.
Some Key Bills We’re Tracking
Economic Development and Community Investment
HB 1015 – Creating the Washington Equitable Access to Credit Act
This legislation would create the Washington Equitable Access to Credit Program that would be housed at the Department of Commerce. The program would be funded by a B&O tax credit for contributions to the program. Commerce would then award grants to community development financial institutions for lending or investing in historically underserved communities. The bill passed the Business Financial Institutions and Trade Committee unanimously. The committee adopted a striking amendment that made a few changes to the bill. Most significantly it shortens the program from 10 years to 5 years, reduces match requirements, requires repaid loans to revolve in perpetuity, and caps the interest rate for loans made with grant dollars at prime + 2%. The bill is scheduled for an executive session in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means today. The Chamber is a strong supporter of this legislation.
Housing Affordability and Homelessness
HB 1866 – Assisting persons receiving community support services through medical assistance programs to receive supportive housing
This legislation treats chronic homelessness as a medical condition and proposes a healthcare solution. The bill creates the Apple Health and Homes Program to provide a supportive housing benefit for individuals that are enrolled in medical assistance. The bill passed the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee on Wednesday and is scheduled for executive session in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means today. The Chamber is a strong supporter of this legislation.
HB 1660 – Concerning accessory dwelling units
This legislation requires cities and counties to allow for the construction of accessory dwelling units within urban growth areas. The bill passed the Senate Committee on Housing & Local Government and has been referred to Rules.
Employment Law
SB 5873/HB 2031 – Concerning unemployment insurance, family leave, and medical leave premiums
Legislation sponsored by Sen. Karen Keiser (D-33) in the Senate and Rep. April Berg (D-40) in the House proposes changes to the state’s unemployment insurance program. As a result of the Paid Family and Medical Leave solvency issue, those provisions in the bill have been removed. The remaining unemployment insurance provisions in the bill would decrease the maximum social tax (social cost factor) for 2022 and 2023. The bill was heard and passed out of the House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee and the Rules Committee was relieved of further consideration. The bill has been placed on second reading.
SB 5649 – Modifying the Washington State Paid Family and Medical Leave Act
This legislation sponsored by Sen. June Robinson (D-38) proposes a number of changes to the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program. As a result of the recent solvency issues, there was an amendment in the Senate that includes an audit, an outside contract to hire a financial consulting firm to help with fund analysis and solvency projections, a legislative task force to develop recommendations for 2023 legislative session changes and several other accountability measures. The bill was heard last Friday in the House Appropriations Committee and is scheduled for executive session today.
HB 2076 – Concerning rights and obligations of transportation network company drivers and transportation network companies
Legislation introduced by Rep. Liz Berry (D-36), which reflects years of conversations between the labour community and transportation network companies. The bill passed the House this week, 55-42, and is scheduled for an executive session in the Senate Committee on Transportation today.
End of Session Scheduled for March 10
Following the opposite house fiscal cut-off today, both the House and Senate will head to the floor to pass bills out of their respective chambers. Negotiations between House and Senate budget writers will continue over the last two weeks until they reach agreement and pass the final supplemental budgets. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn on March 10.
Important Dates:
Feb. 3 – House of Origin Policy Cutoff
Feb. 7 – House of Origin Fiscal Cutoff
Feb. 15 – House of Origin Floor Cutoff
Feb. 24 – Opposite House Policy Cutoff
Feb. 28 – Opposite House Fiscal Cutoff
March 4 – Opposite House Floor Cutoff