This complex proposal dropped a significant amount of its complexity in committee—17 pages of proposed law, to be exact—and its companion will first be heard on the cutoff day.
The substitute version of HB 1303 made the following changes to the original bill:
- Eliminated provisions addressing environmental justice impact statements for certain government actions in pollution-burdened communities;
- Eliminated provisions amending the state Clean Air Act to prohibit certain types of facilities from receiving permits in specified communities; and
- Directs Ecology to adopt rules, including to identify standardized mitigation for potential adverse environmental impacts to environmental justice.
Some of the feedback we got from cities is that an environmental justice evaluation could be incorporated into the existing checklist. We think that is the intent with these changes, which we appreciate. Please let us know if these changes are not clear or propose any implementation changes.
The Senate companion, SB 5380, sponsored by Sen. Liz Lovelett (D–Anacortes) is not yet scheduled for a committee vote but will need to receive said vote by Friday, February 21 in order to advance this session.
Date to remember
SB 5380 is scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Committee on Friday, February 21 at 10:30 am.
Complex approach to add environmental justice to SEPA checklist
January 20, 2025
HB 1303, sponsored by Rep. Sharlett Mena (D–Tacoma), proposes a laudable goal but through an extremely complex path.
The bill:
- Adds an environmental justice (EJ) review to the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) checklist
- Includes 13 pages of new law on how to evaluate EJ under SEPA
- Only applies to “potentially impactful projects” (defined) located in a “pollution burdened community,” as defined by ranking a 7 or higher on the WA health disparities map or adjacent to such a community
- Exempts clean energy projects, housing projects, national security projects, fish hatcheries, state transportation projects under $15 million, and nonproject actions
Given the complexity of this issue, funding and training would need to be provided by the state as cities generally don’t have staff with this level of expertise. Likely, cities would incur significant consultant costs to review this addition to the checklist. This also proposes a departure from how SEPA was designed—to provide a uniform review across the state.
Date to remember
HB 1303 will be heard in the House Environment & Energy Committee on Thursday, January 23 at 8 am.