There are only two weeks left in the legislative session. Last week, legislators primarily focused their attention on moving legislation through fiscal committees by the Opposite Chamber Fiscal Committee Cutoff on April 4. Many priority bills made it through the cutoff and are still in play, including middle housing, vehicular pursuits, clean energy
The King County Crisis Care Centers Levy will appear as Proposition 1 on the April 25 Special Election ballot. The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce has endorsed this measure and encourages you to vote for approval. You can read the full proposition, along with statements in favor and opposition, here. People in Crisis Have Nowhere to Go King
We are now in the final stretch of the 2023, 105-day legislative session. March 29 was the Opposite House Policy Committee Cutoff where all bills that passed their chambers of origin needed to be passed by the opposite chamber policy committee to stay alive this session. Many priority bills made it through the cutoff and are still in play including middle
We have only four more weeks left in the 105-day legislative session. Last week, hearings and executive sessions on policy bills continued in advance of the March 29 opposite-house policy cutoff. There was also a shift in focus to the budget; the Senate released and held hearings on its 2023-25 Operating and Capital Budget Proposals. Revenue Forecast +
Last week legislators returned to their respective committees to hear bills from the opposite chamber. Bills must now move forward in the opposite chamber, progressing through policy and fiscal committees. The opposite house cut off is March 29, fiscal cutoff is April 4, and then both chambers will return to the floor to debate bills before the opposite
Last week the legislature cleared a major hurdle, the House of Origin cutoff. March 8 was the deadline for bills to move out of the chamber (House or Senate) in which they were introduced. This year, 2,086 bills have been introduced, and 559 made it past last week’s deadline and out of their respective chambers. With so many priority bills on the
Solving the homelessness crisis has consistently been the most important issue for people in our region, according to The Index. Recent trends confirm immediate action is required. Washington’s 2022 point-in-time count found nearly 13,000 individuals live outside and are unsheltered across the state — up from about 10,800 in 2020. When you
Thanks to a law passed in 2022, Washington businesses have a chance to play a leading role (and get a tax credit) as the region draws the film industry to the Pacific Northwest. In 2006, the Washington State Legislature created the Motion Picture Competitiveness Program: a tool to attract and support investment in our local film industry. Washington
The legislature has now passed the half-way point of the 105-day legislation session. Last week, legislators devoted almost all their time to debating bills on the floor, extending into the weekend. Several floor debates went late into the evening and even into the early hours of the morning. The deadline for passing bills out of their chamber of origin
Week 7 is now complete, and we are almost at midpoint of the 105-day 2023 legislative session. Last Friday, February 24 was the last day to move bills out of fiscal committees in their house of origin. Several Chamber priority pieces of legislation survived cutoff -- nurse staffing (SB 5236), middle housing (HB 1110), transit-oriented development (SB 5466),