
March 6, 2023
*The Legislative Bulletin* is produced weekly during the legislative session.**	One click to view all Legislative Bulletin headlines and articles.
Transit-oriented density bill passes the Senate Several housing density bills include provisions specific to transit, but one housing bill, SB 5466, is solely focused on transit-oriented development (TOD). It has become the vehicle for the conversation about how to maximize housing opportunities near transit – a pillar of the proposal put forward by the AWC Housing Solutions Group. SB 5466 contains other elements that are more challenging, however, especially the restrictions on authority to provide for parking, displacement concerns, and transit application. More Ask House members to support HB 1670, the property tax cap fix Time is short for the House to pass HB 1670, which changes the arbitrary 1% property tax cap to tie it to your city’s cost drivers – inflation and population up to 3%. Contact your House members and share with them how the 1% cap impacts your community and your ability to provide needed services. More Cities from Anacortes to Zillah sign on to support the Affordable Homes Act! Thank you to all the city leaders that answered the call to sign on to the support letter for HB 1628 – the Affordable Homes Act. A broad cross section of cities from every region of the state understands the critical funding tool that HB 1628 would provide through two new real estate excise tax (REET) sources – one councilmanic local option, .25% REET (REET 3), and a new state REET tier for the portion of property value exceeding $5 million. The state provision is projected to raise $200 million per year for state housing programs. If you overlooked the Action Alert to join your colleagues, it’s not too late! We still have weeks of work to do to get this bill across the finish line. Add your name now to lend your support for the bill when it gets to the Senate. Prepare to apply for pollution reduction grant dollars and attend an informational webinar The Environmental Protection Agency has released program guidance for the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program funding under the Inflation Reduction Act. The two-stage program – with $250 million in noncompetitive planning grants, followed by $4.6 billion in competitive implementation grants – will encourage states, municipalities, and others to create and implement comprehensive climate pollution plans that ensure reductions and maximize benefits for all. The next installment in a series of informational webinars will be held Tuesday, March 7 at 2 pm ET. Learn more and register now. Submit comments on new Build America, Buy America regulations The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is seeking feedback on the Build America, Buy America provision included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Fill out this form from the National League of Cities (NLC) to provide your feedback on the proposed rule, which will inform NLC’s comments to the OMB. Deadline to submit is Wednesday, March 8. Submit suggestions for reforms to the Uniform Guidance The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is seeking comments on how to reform 2 CFR 200 – more commonly known as the Uniform Guidance. NLC wishes to collect city feedback via this survey to incorporate into their filing with the Federal Register. Complete the survey by the March 8 deadline to make suggestions for one or more of the following: Guidance to incorporate statutory requirements and administration priorities; Guidance to reduce agency and recipient burden; Clarification for sections that recipients or agencies have interpreted in different ways; and Rewriting applicable sections in plain English, improving flow, and addressing inconsistent use of terms. Top 10 tips for working with the media The Mayors Exchange in January wasn’t just a great networking event. AWC also had the honor of hosting award-winning journalist Meeghan Black (also of Evening Magazine and Gardening with Ciscoe) to present tips on how city officials can work with the media. Meeghan, now the Public Information Officer for the Bellevue Police Department, shared a host of timeless gems—ideas and tools you can use today, and practice into the future, to respond to media requests and get your messages out into your community. Watch as City Inside/Out unwraps the WRAP Act Recycling rates have stalled in Washington, and lawmakers are considering an ambitious plan to hold businesses financially responsible for their packaging as well as create a bottle deposit system like Oregon’s. Watch this video that unwraps the details of the WRAP (Washington Recycling and Packaging) Act. Prefer a quick read instead? Check out this op-ed piece by Rep. Liz Berry (D–Seattle), a sponsor of the WRAP Act.	Session moves fast Things can move quickly during the floor action period of session – don’t miss the chance to make your voice heard when it counts. Bills are now being brought up for votes. To remain viable or alive, a bill must pass out of its original house (i.e., house of origin) by 5 pm Wednesday, March 8. The process then starts over on Thursday with bills that survived this major cutoff needing a committee hearing in the opposite house. We provide updates on the progress of key bills in this week’s Bill Hot Sheet. We will continue to provide updates as we learn more. Join us on Friday for our city action call to get the latest updates after floor cutoff. Attend AWC city action calls – Members only Fridays at 12:30 pm \| Online Join our city action calls for AWC members each Friday to hear updates directly from your team of lobbyists on the latest action on the hill and progress on bills of importance to cities. Make sure to sign up in advance each week. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link for that week’s call. Register now for this Friday's call. Affordable housing Very prescriptive and overlapping ADU bills continue to move. Two bills attempting to regulate accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinances in planning cities have passed out of their originating chamber well ahead of the March 8 deadline. The stated intent of both is to provide affordable housing, but neither substantively addresses the construction financing hurdles of building ADUs. More Cannabis Senate passes bill promoting social equity in cannabis. SB 5080, expanding the Social Equity in Cannabis program, passed the Senate and is waiting to be scheduled in the House Regulated Substances & Gaming Committee. The policy was recommended by the Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force. More Energy Extreme heat utility shutoff bill simplified, re-aligned with existing statute. While the new version of the bill replaces the previous iteration, changes advocated by AWC remain. More Federal Following the train derailment in East Palestine, OH, a group of bipartisan Senators respond with the Railway Safety Act of 2023. Add your city to this NLC sign-on letter to Congress to act on rail safety. More AWC releases 2023 Federal Priorities. AWC has updated Federal Priorities for 2023. Our priorities complement NLC’s Federal Advocacy 2023 Action Agenda. We are looking forward to nearly 100 Washington state city officials heading to D.C. for the NLC City Congressional Conference later this month to share these priorities with our Congressional delegation. General government Prejudgment interest is likely dead for session. SB 5059, imposing prejudgment interest on tort claims up to the date of injury, failed to pass out of the Senate Ways & Means Committee ahead of cutoff and is likely dead for 2023. Thanks to all the cities that contacted their Senators opposing this costly bill. More Where do city liability bills stand at the mid-session cutoff? Here we review a few of the liability-related bills that have, so far, made it past the mid-session cutoffs. A few bills are still pending – we’ll keep you up to date on developments. More Bill allowing cities to switch to even-year elections up again this year. This policy proposal has come up in the Legislature several times in the past few years, but SB 5723 allows for more local control than prior bills. More Bill increasing contract limits between cities and community service organizations passes through the House. After languishing in the Senate for a month, HB 1086 is finally scheduled for a public hearing this week. The bill increases the contract limit between cities and community service organizations from $25,000 to $75,000. More Adult entertainment bill limiting city regulations passes the Senate. SB 5614 establishes various provisions relating to adult entertainment establishments in Washington, including prohibiting local laws or ordinances related to entertainers. More No advisory vote on your next ballot? Senate moves to abolish confusing advisory votes. Advisory votes first appeared on Washington ballots after Initiative 960 was approved in 2008. The version of the bill that passed the Senate would replace advisory votes with a QR code on voter’s pamphlets linking to a website with summaries of government spending. More HR & labor relations HR & labor relations bills making it past the halfway point. Here we review a few of the HR & labor relations bills that have made it past the House of Origin cutoff. Bills that are still pending have until March 8 at 5 pm to be sent to the other chamber. More Land use & planning Lot splitting bill passes chamber. The proposal to allow for expedited lot splitting has passed the House, with significant amendments along the way. More Bill implementing several AWC regulatory reform recommendations moves forward. HB 1293 contains provisions regarding SEPA reform that are consistent with the AWC proposal, and another on objective design review that may still need work. More Open government Bill aimed at reducing impacts of redacting and releasing body-worn camera footage passed out of House. HB 1080 allows law enforcement and corrections agencies to charge for the cost of redactions or edits to body and dash camera footage if a public records request is made by a party to a criminal or civil case concerning the recorded incident. More Pensions Yeehaw, it’s another pensions policy roundup: Cutoff edition. Here we review a few of the pensions-related bills that have or have not (yet) made it past the House of Origin cutoff deadline on March 8 – the deadline for bills to be voted out of their chamber of origin and sent across the rotunda. More Public safety & criminal justice Vehicular pursuits bill only has until March 8 for House floor vote. HB 1363 received a mixed vote in the House Transportation Committee and continues to face a tough road ahead. AWC urges cities to continue to reach out to your legislators and ask them to support this bill. More Nearly unanimous support in Senate for bill to curb illegal street racing. SB 5606 creates definitions for “off-street facilities” and “drifting” and encourages law enforcement agencies to undertake a public education campaign to inform the public of the unlawful nature of illegal racing. The bill also allows law enforcement to impound vehicles used in street racing. More Public works & infrastructure Apprenticeship utilization expansion bill scaled back, loses subcontracts provision. An amendment to HB 1050 removed the requirement that subcontracts with an initial price of $350,000 or more require that at least 15% of the labor hours be performed by apprentices. More Changes to prevailing wage law pass the Senate, head to the House, and may be on their way to cities. Modifications to the process for setting the prevailing wage, contesting it, and reflecting it in public works contracts were revised and refined again last week, then unanimously adopted by the Senate. More Transportation New use for transportation impact fee revenue may be within cities’ sights. A proposal that clarifies how cities may use impact fees to fund improvements to bicycle and pedestrian facilities moves one step closer to the Governor’s desk. More
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