Voting Rights Bill passes Senate; other bills face uncertain futures

Read up on the latest actions regarding voting rights, extreme weather grants, and public comment notices.

Extreme weather grants bill dies in fiscal committee but may still be included in final budget

HB 1012 didn’t make it past the last cutoff date. However, the legislature could still pass the bill before the end of session as it is deemed necessary to implement the budget (NTIB). The bill would direct $3.2 million to the Military Department for an extreme weather event response grant program for local governments. The House budget proposal had funds for this grant program.

Voting Rights Bill passes Senate, awaits Governor’s signature

HB 1048, expanding the Washington Voting Rights Act, passed the Senate last Wednesday and now awaits the Governor’s signature. Once the Governor receives the bill, he has five days to decide whether or not to sign.

This bill amends the Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA) to make it easier for a plaintiff to bring suit in court:

• HB 1048 allows a person or organization to be awarded up to $50,000 for costs incurred prior to submitting their notice of intent to file a lawsuit against a local government alleging polarized voting if they prevail. The political subdivision must reimburse costs within 60 days.
• Even if an individual or organization does not prevail, the bill still allows the court to award reasonable costs for work prior to filing a claim, with no cap on those costs.
• The bill grants standing to organizations with at least one voter who resides in the political subdivision. Cohesive coalitions of members of different protected classes are also protected by the WVRA under this bill and may file notices or claims together.
• It also gives standing to tribes located at least partially in the political subdivision and allows for an increase in the number of county commissioners as a remedy to a violation of the WVRA based on tribal status claims.

AWC strongly supports voting rights and ensuring appropriate representation in all levels of government but had several concerns with this bill. AWC voiced concerns throughout session about the potential fiscal impact on cities related to the potentially unlimited recovery of costs in cases where a group does not prevail and requested an amendment to apply the $50,000 cap on work conducted prior to filing a claim where a plaintiff doesn’t prevail but can demonstrate that they had an impact on the jurisdictions behavior and voting practices. We also requested an amendment to better define a non-prevailing plaintiff. The Senate did not add any of AWC’s recommended amendments that were intended to address liability concerns in the bill that passed.

If the bill is signed into law by the Governor, the new WVRA will be in effect January 1, 2024. Cities should work with their legal counsel to prepare for these changes.

Bill that adds additional requirements to public comment periods waiting for Senate action before Wednesday cutoff

HB 1105 requires public agencies, including cities, that solicit public comment for statutorily specified periods of time to provide notice of the first and last date and time in which the public comment will be accepted. Agencies that fail to do so would be subject to a civil penalty of $500 for the first violation of the act and $1000 for any subsequent violation.

AWC worked with the bill sponsor to address some unclear language in the first version of the bill and ensure that the requirement only applied in situations where there is a statutorily identified time period for public comment. In those cases, the city would need to publish the final date for accepting comments.

The bill is awaiting final passage by the Senate before Wednesday, April 12.