The first week of session came and went in a flash and packed a whirlwind of activity in five days. A number of committees held work sessions to get up to speed on topics and held a number of hearings on a variety of bills. In last week’s issue, we suggested that hearing schedules looked pretty light for the first week, but a flurry of hearings were added as the Legislature jumpstarted their workload.

During the first week it was great to see some city officials already coming to the Capitol. We owe a quick shout-out to the Mayors of Tukwila, Fife, Kent, Sumner, and Auburn who came to testify about the importance of streamlined sales tax (SST) mitigation in the Senate Ways & Means and House Appropriations Committees. Also, we send thanks to Mayor Echanove of Palouse who was in Olympia in his role as a member of the Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) to talk about the importance of funding infrastructure and Mayor Durkin of Seattle who testified on the compromise bill amending I-940. And thanks to Councilmember Mumm of Spokane and representatives from Seattle who joined AWC staff to provide an overview of city legislative priorities to the House Local Government Committee.

I am sure there are many others who I haven’t mentioned, but we do appreciate you taking the time to come to Olympia and represent your communities!

Week two of session looks like it will keep up the same busy pace with many bills being heard in committee. We’ll again see some additional work sessions including a two-day work session in the Senate Housing Stability & Affordability Committee, where several cities have been invited to provide their perspectives on housing affordability and homelessness challenges and to share what they have been working on in their communities.

In addition to holding public hearings for bills, legislators continue to introduce a steady stream of new bills. Given the long session, there is more opportunity to introduce new bills in the first few weeks and still have time for hearings before cutoff deadlines. We anticipate that some city priority bills will be introduced over the next week. Watch for news about those here in Legislative Bulletin and on AWC’s social media feeds.

Finally, we are excited about and looking forward to hosting the AWC Mayors Exchange on Wednesday with more than 60 mayors and city officials in Olympia to talk about what is important to cities across our state.

Like every other year, the legislative session runs for a continuous 105-days, and this includes holidays like today’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The holiday will not go unnoticed, as King’s legacy is celebrated under the Capitol dome before the workday begins.

Thanks for all of your ongoing work to reach out to your legislators. And, as always, feel free to contact us if you have questions about anything going on at the Capitol.