We are in the last full week of Legislative session in Olympia and the majority Democrat party keeps pushing their unfavorable bills, despite extremely high turnout in the committee sign-ins.
As long as they don’t find a way to extend session, or call a special session, politicking should be over on March 12.
Last week:
- The Millionaires Tax was heard Feb. 24. The chair started by announcing that there was fraudulent Committee Sign In activity. Rick Vermeers suggested that maybe the system should verify voter ID and citizenship. What a novel idea!
You can watch 2 hours of joy here: SB 6346 on TVW.
Apparently, according to Sen. Jamie Pederson, they pay more attention to those who show up in person. And a whole bunch of other nonsense around the public’s participation. Brandi Kruse does a good job covering the proceedings in the Feb. 24 Undivided Broadcast on YouTube (and podcasts)
Then, on Friday Feb. 27 Finance Committee Exec. Session 8 am, they considered amendments for over an hour before voting. The Vote on TVW ended up with 9 in favor, 6 opposed. Notably, moderate Democrat Amy Walen sided with the Republicans and voted against.
- And the other ugly bill that will be politicized to unseat sheriffs - SB 5974 - was heard in Executive Session Feb. 24. Many amendments were proposed, and it passed out of committee on party lines 6-3. Yes, Republicans only have three seats on the Community Safety committee. This bill is headed to the House floor probably this week.
Actions for the next week:
Public hearings in committees are completely winding down and most of the bills we track are heading for finance committee and budgeting hearings. Our PRO/CONs are still as effective, but if you submit written comments, make sure to address funding challenges. Debating the issues is not done in finance committees.
On March 2, Executive sessions will hear E3SHB 1710, 2SHB 2333.
Write letters and call your legislators on key bills too. Any communication might yield information that they’re about to change a vote and not go with the anti-ICE, anti-sheriff, pro-tax insanity that will assuredly seal fates for some legislator elections in the fall.
SB 6084 (CON) This bill codifies an errant court decision that it is okay to vote in two elections as long as it is not the same election--multistage voting. This allows persons to vote in two states, and it appears that it will allow registering and voting in two different counties as long as it is not the same election time period. So, if you don’t have an election to vote in at your home, you can vote in an election at your summer home in a different county. Note: There is no longer a requirement to live in the jurisdiction for 30 days. You can register and vote instantly in any jurisdiction. Your registration would be cancelled in your original jurisdiction, but you can “move” back whenever you wish.
HB 2741 (CON). This new bill guts the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) process with respect to electric transmission siting in Washington State and assigns the authority to site transmission projects to an appointed Board. Currently, there is a large group of residents in Clark County who are looking for alternatives to PacifiCorp’s Transmission Line through Clark County from Swift Dam to Troutdale, Oregon. They are relying largely on the SEPA, which gives Clark County the environmental lead for this project. Passage of this bill would subvert their ability to require PacifiCorp to offer alternatives to the currently proposed route.