2015 Legislative Session Update

By Michael Shaw, Chapter Lobbyist

The 2015 legislative session is approaching the halfway point. February 20th was the last day to read in committee reports in house of origin, except House fiscal committees and Senate Ways & Means and Transportation Committees, which have a deadline of February 27th. By March 11th, the House and Senate will have dealt with their respective bills and begun the public hearings on each other’s bills. In the background, leadership will continue to negotiate the budget and the pieces necessary to strike a grand bargain that will allow everyone to leave town. That latter process could extend into June.

That bargain could include a transportation funding package. The Senate is expected to vote on its proposal soon and commence a larger negotiation with the House. While the projects associated with the package are similar, the House and Senate must resolve multimodal spending, whether the package will be tied to low carbon fuel standards, and various reform bills deemed necessary by both House and Senate Republicans. The Legislature does not need a transportation package to leave town, but in order to get those budget votes, a transportation package may be a necessary trade.

The Legislature must also reach consensus on how to address the mental health concerns raised in two separate court cases. In addition, a capital budget must be adopted, and the Legislature seems committed to reconciling the medical marijuana market with the recreational marijuana market. Everything must be negotiated since neither party holds sway over both chambers hence the pessimism concerning the Legislature getting out by April 26th, the official end of the regular session.

Yet regardless of these big picture items, there are the more mundane bills that are the staple of each legislative session. Below are the notable bills for planners that are viable as of February 23, 2015:

Bill	Sponsor	Summary	Status	Position
1250	Holy	Concerning notice and review processes for annexations, deannexations, incorporations, disincorporations, consolidations, and boundary line adjustments under Titles 35 and 35A RCW.	H Rules	Support as amended
1420	Wilcox	Concerning school siting and school district aid in reducing overall school construction costs. Creates a legislative task force on school siting and provides for the task force's membership. Requires the task force to meet three times to review the issue of siting schools outside of urban growth areas, and to provide a summary of the task force's discussions and any recommendations to the appropriate committees of the Legislature by December 1, 2015.	H Rules	Oppose original bill.
1461	Hurst	Relating to marijuana.	H Comm & Gam	Oppose Part 13
1576	Fitzgibbon	Concerning sales and use tax for cities to offset municipal service costs to newly annexed areas.	H Finance	Support
1802	Fitzgibbon	Concerning optional methods of financing long-range planning costs.	H Rules	Support
2010	Takko	Creating appeal procedures for single-family homeowners with failing septic systems required to connect to public sewer systems.	H Rules	Support
2036	Fitzgibbon	Requires the Department of Ecology to develop two general permits, one each for proposed development activities located east or west of the crest of the Cascade mountain range, for use by counties and cities for development proposals that are within shorelines of the state and are exempt from the substantial development permit requirements of the Shoreline Management Act.	H Gen. Govt	Monitor
5013	Honeyford	Regarding the use of designated agricultural lands.	S Rules	Monitor
5061	Honeyford	Limiting the authority of growth management hearings boards to hear petitions challenging the regulation of permit exempt wells.	S Rules	Monitor
5130	Pearson	Restricting marijuana producer and processor businesses from being located in certain residential and rural areas.	S Ways & Means	Oppose
5138	Roach	Concerning notice and review processes for annexations, deannexations, incorporations, disincorporations, consolidations, and boundary line adjustments under Titles 35 and 35A RCW.	S Rules	Support as amended
5363	Padden	Prohibiting the use of eminent domain for economic development.	S Rules	Monitor
5417	Rivers	Concerning local government marijuana policies.	S Rules	Monitor
5604	Liias	Addressing the review and evaluation of countywide planning policies under the Growth Management Act. Requires all GMA planning jurisdictions to complete buildable lands reports.	S Rules	Oppose
5724	Billig	Concerning funding for the safe routes to school program.	S Trans	Support
5864	Nelson	Concerning sales and use tax for cities to offset municipal service costs to newly annexed areas.	S Ways & Means	Support
5871	Angel	Creating appeal procedures for single-family homeowners with failing septic systems required to connect to public sewer systems.	S Rules	Support
5921	Honeyford	No statutory codification of the vested rights doctrine limits the common law interpretation and application of the vested rights doctrine. The vested rights doctrine at common law is the rule of decision in all courts of Washington State provided that the doctrine does not conflict with the constitution and laws of the United States or Washington State.	S Rules	Monitor