Week Six
Today is Friday, February 22, and is the first major cutoff date of the 2019 legislative session. This is the day that policy bills must move out of their committee of origin or they are technically considered dead for session. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as bills that are considered necessary to implement the budget.
We have been sharing with you since the first week of session that this year has been a tough one for those who care about farmers and agricultural issues. As we work to represent your issues here in Olympia, the battle lines are wider and more intense than we have seen in many years.
As we move into this next phase of the legislative, we are going to need your help. Urban legislators need to know that farmers are paying attention and are not going to sit idly by why votes are taken on bills that threaten our very livelihood.
Please stand ready to send messages to legislators on key issues.
You will be seeing action alerts coming your way soon. We ask that you take a moment to call or send an email to a particular group of legislators at key decision moments. We know your time is valuable, so we will only send alerts when action is truly needed.
Here is an example of the bills on our tracking list that made it out of committee prior to today’s cutoff deadline:
High Priority Bills
|
Bill #
|
Abbrev. Title
|
Short Description
|
Status
|
Sponsor
|
Position
|
|
SHB 1110 (SB 5412)
|
Greenhouse gas/transp. fuels
|
Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels.
|
H Approps
|
Fitzgibbon
|
Oppose
|
|
HB 1172(SB 5314)
|
Capital gains tax/prop. tax
|
Assisting Washington families by improving the fairness of the state’s tax system by enacting a capital gains tax and providing property tax relief.
|
H Finance
|
Santos
|
Oppose
|
|
SHB 1194(SSB 5135)
|
Toxic pollution
|
Preventing toxic pollution that affects public health or the environment.
|
H Approps
|
Doglio
|
Oppose
|
|
HB 1343(SB 5129)
|
Revenue
|
Increasing revenues for the support of state government.
|
H Finance
|
Tarleton
|
Oppose
|
|
HB 1398(SSB 5438)
|
H-2A agricultural program
|
Concerning the H-2A temporary agricultural program.
|
H Labor & Workpl
|
Dolan
|
Oppose
|
|
SHB 1498(SSB 5511)
|
Broadband service
|
Expanding affordable, resilient broadband service to enable economic development, public safety, health care, and education in Washington’s communities.
|
H Approps
|
Hudgins
|
Support
|
|
DFW dog training, nonlethal
|
Establishing a department of fish and wildlife directed nonlethal program for the purpose of training dogs.
|
H Rules R
|
Blake
|
Support
|
|
|
Chinook abundance
|
Implementing recommendations of the southern resident killer whale task force related to increasing chinook abundance.
|
H Approps
|
Fitzgibbon
|
Oppose
|
|
|
HB 1841(SB 5877)
|
Crew size on certain trains
|
Establishing minimum crew size on certain trains.
|
H Rules R
|
Riccelli
|
Oppose
|
|
Ag. crop damage by wildlife
|
Concerning wildlife damage to agricultural crops.
|
Eslick
|
Support
|
||
|
HB 1889(SB 5136)
|
Water infrastructure program
|
Establishing the water infrastructure program.
|
H Cap Budget
|
Dye
|
Support
|
|
Statewide wolf recovery
|
Addressing statewide wolf recovery.
|
H RDev, Ag&NR
|
Kretz
|
Support
|
|
|
HB 2117(SB 5973)
|
State tax structure
|
Providing a pathway to modernize and rebalance the Washington state tax structure so that it is equitable, adequate, stable, and transparent for the people of Washington state.
|
H Finance
|
Frame
|
Oppose
|
|
SB 5129(HB 1343)
|
Revenue
|
Increasing revenues for the support of state government. Gov’s Cap Gains
|
S Ways & Means
|
Rolfes
|
Oppose
|
|
SSB 5135(SHB 1194)
|
Toxic pollution
|
Preventing toxic pollution that affects public health or the environment.
|
S Ways & Means
|
Rolfes
|
Oppose
|
|
SB 5136(HB 1889)
|
Water infrastructure program
|
Establishing the water infrastructure program.
|
S Ag/Water/Natura
|
Honeyford
|
Support
|
|
SB 5314(HB 1172)
|
Capital gains tax/prop. tax
|
Assisting Washington families by improving the fairness of the state’s tax system by enacting a capital gains tax and providing property tax relief.
|
S Ways & Means
|
Wellman
|
Oppose
|
|
SB 5412(SHB 1110)
|
Greenhouse gas/transp. fuels
|
Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels.
|
S Environment, E
|
Salda?a
|
Oppose
|
|
SSB 5438 (HB 1398)
|
Ag & seasonal workforce srv
|
Establishing the office of agricultural and seasonal workforce services within the employment security department.
|
S Ways & Means
|
McCoy
|
Oppose
|
|
SSB 5511(SHB 1498)
|
Broadband service
|
Expanding affordable, resilient broadband service to enable economic development, public safety, health care, and education in Washington’s communities.
|
S Ways & Means
|
Wellman
|
Support
|
|
Orca whales/habitat & fish
|
Implementing recommendations of the southern resident killer whale task force related to increasing habitat and forage fish abundance.
|
S Ag/Water/Natur
|
Rolfes
|
Oppose
|
|
|
Elk fencing pilot project
|
Establishing a pilot project to test elk fencing.
|
S Ag/Water/Natur
|
Wagoner
|
Support
|
|
|
Agricultural supply chains
|
Creating transparency in agricultural supply chains.
|
S Rules 2
|
Salda?a
|
Oppose
|
|
|
SSB 5717(SHB 1491)
|
Employee scheduling
|
Concerning employer and employee scheduling.
|
S Ways & Means
|
Salda?a
|
Oppose
|
|
WA tax structure
|
Improving the equity and sustainability of Washington’s tax structure.
|
S Ways & Means
|
Salda?a
|
Oppose
|
|
|
Transportation funding
|
Concerning transportation funding.
|
S Transportation
|
Hobbs
|
Oppose
|
|
|
Additive trans funding
|
Concerning additive transportation funding and appropriations.
|
S Transportation
|
Hobbs
|
Oppose
|
|
|
SB 5973(HB 2117)
|
State tax structure
|
Providing a pathway to modernize and rebalance the Washington state tax structure so that it is equitable, adequate, stable, and transparent for the people of Washington state.
|
S Ways & Means
|
Wellman
|
Oppose
|
Medium Priority Bills
|
Bill #
|
Abbrev. Title
|
Short Description
|
Status
|
Sponsor
|
Position
|
|
SHB 1068(SSB 5062)
|
High capacity magazines
|
Concerning high capacity magazines.
|
H Rules R
|
Valdez
|
Oppose
|
|
HB 1283(SB 5277)
|
Agricultural fair funding
|
Ensuring the funding of agricultural fairs.
|
H Approps
|
Dent
|
Support
|
|
SHB 1491(SSB 5717)
|
Employee scheduling
|
Concerning employer and employee scheduling.
|
Macri
|
Oppose
|
|
|
SHB 1725 (SB 5550)
|
Pesticide application safety
|
Implementing the recommendations of the pesticide application safety work group.
|
H LAWSDPS
|
Dent
|
Support
|
|
WA food policy forum
|
Continuing the work of the Washington food policy forum.
|
H Approps
|
Gregerson
|
Support
|
|
|
Wildfire prevention
|
Concerning wildfire prevention.
|
H RDANDPS
|
Kretz
|
Support
|
|
|
Pinnipeds & orcas
|
Addressing the impacts of pinnipeds on populations of threatened southern resident orca prey.
|
H ENVIDPS
|
Young
|
Support
|
|
|
DNR lease termination
|
Requiring the written consent of a lessee before the department of natural resources may terminate a lease for reasons other than default.
|
H RDev, Ag&NR
|
Corry
|
Support
|
|
|
SSB 5062(SHB 1068)
|
High capacity magazines
|
Concerning high capacity magazines.
|
S Rules 2
|
Kuderer
|
Oppose
|
|
GMA/agricultural land
|
Encouraging the success of agriculture on agricultural land.
|
S Ways & Means
|
Zeiger
|
Support
|
|
|
SB 5277(HB 1283)
|
Agricultural fair funding
|
Ensuring the funding of agricultural fairs.
|
S Ways & Means
|
Warnick
|
Support
|
|
DFW dog training, nonlethal
|
Establishing a nonlethal program within the department of fish and wildlife for the purpose of training dogs.
|
S Rules 2
|
Takko
|
Support
|
|
|
SSB 5543 (HB 1733)
|
Productive farmland
|
Retaining productive farmland.
|
S Ways & Means
|
Takko
|
Support
|
|
Pollinators
|
Concerning the protection of all pollinators, including honey bees.
|
S Ways & Means
|
Liias
|
Support
|
|
|
SB 5877(HB 1841)
|
Crew size on certain trains
|
Establishing minimum crew size on certain trains.
|
S Labor & Commer
|
Kuderer
|
Oppose
|