General government grab bag

There were a few high-profile bills addressing general government issues in 2019.

After grappling with the issue for more than a decade, the Legislature passed “wrongful death” legislation this session. AWC strongly opposed SB 5163. The legislation expands tort liability associated with wrongful death and survival action claims and amends those statutes by removing dependency requirements for claimants; allowing parents and siblings to bring an action for adult children, when that child has no spouse, partner, or child; expanding noneconomic damages to include the decedent’s pain and suffering, anxiety, emotional distress, or humiliation; and applies retroactively to all claims that are not time barred, as well as any claims pending in any court on the effective date of the act, July 28, 2019.

The Legislature spent considerable time wrestling with privacy rules around consumer data with HB 1071 regarding data breaches and SB 5376, the Washington Privacy Act. However, the House and Senate couldn’t agree on a version of SB 5376 and it failed to pass. We expect the issue to return in 2020 with continued focus on how government uses facial recognition technology.

In 2018, the Legislature passed the Washington Voting Rights Act (VRA). This session, they further refined the VRA with SB 5266, which requires that all council positions are up for reelection at the same time when redistricting under the VRA. However, the bill does include language to clarify that cities can still stagger the terms of the positions after the initial election.

One bill that did not pass was HB 2069 which would have restricted city-owned utilities from holding landlords responsible for delinquent tenant accounts. We anticipate that this issue will return in 2020.

General government bills