State lawmakers had a busy week as they worked to pass legislation out of committee ahead of the Feb. 3 house-of-origin cutoff deadline for policy bills.
Some 275 bills cleared committees in both chambers last week, in addition to about 200 bills that have been approved since the beginning of this year’s legislative session.
The deadline means about 1,500 introduced non-budget and non-transportation bills are likely dead for the year.
The fiscal and transportation committees had until Feb. 7 to pass house-of-origin legislation referred to them, but budget and budget-related matters generally remain alive until the end of session.
The Senate Committee on State Government and Elections voted last week to approve SB 5909, which would place a 90-day limit on state of emergency proclamations issued by the governor unless the time limit is extended by the leadership of both chambers. The bill, sponsored by Democrats, has garnered wide bipartisan support, and some 5,400 people signed in online to testify in favor of the bill during a public hearing last week.
The vote to move the bill out of committee was unanimous, although the ranking Republican member, Sen. Jeff Wilson (R-Longview) voted to pass it “without recommendation.” Generally, bills are passed out of committee with a “Do Pass” recommendation.
Senator Wilson said he supports the bill, but that it doesn’t go far enough, and he plans to offer an amendment when the measure comes to the full Senate, possibly as early as this week.
The House State Government and Tribal Relations Committee held a public hearing last week on a broader measure to limit the governor’s emergency powers (HB 1772) but did not act on the bill before the cutoff deadline.
The Senate Committee on State Government and Elections on Feb. 2 also approved SB 5843, a bill requested by Gov. Jay Inslee that would make it a gross misdemeanor for public officials and candidates to purposely spread misinformation about election results in the state.
The committee passed the bill on a strict 3-2 party line vote. One of the sponsors of the bill, Senator Kuderer (D-Bellevue) said elected leaders and candidates need to be held “to a higher standard” in the aftermath of events last year. “They have extraordinary influence, and their speech has outsized impact,” she said.
Voting against approving the measure, Sen. Jeff Wilson (R-Longview) said he did so for “just one reason and only one reason: It’s called the First Amendment.” He added that he believes in listening to people and “what they’re truly trying to convey, rather than any form of punishing people that you may disagree with.”
Floor action was limited last week, both chambers passing a number of non-controversial bills, many of which had already passed last year.
The House took a step closer towards completing this year’s redistricting process by passing House Concurrent Resolution 4407, to change some of the legislative boundaries drawn up by the state Redistricting Commission. The measure passed 88-7, and it will now go to the Senate for further consideration and likely amendment. The state’s 10 Congressional and 49 Legislative districts must be redrawn every 10 years, based on population results of the U.S. Census. The process is often controversial, because of the inherent political implications of changing existing district boundaries.
The Senate also approved SB 5615, to make Pickleball the state’s official sport, by a 46-1 vote.
