HB 1421, regarding utility liens, received a hearing last week and passed out of committee with a significant
amendment that expands its scope to include repayment programs. We wrote about it here. In 2019 and 2020,
a version of the bill was heard during regular session. We negotiated a compromise on the topic in 2020 but the bill did not advance further.
This year, the bill’s public hearing spurred the committee members to include debt forgiveness or repayment for delinquent accounts that accrued during the shut-off moratorium. The new provision would be particularly challenging for customer-owned
utilities—by early estimates, delinquent payments for municipally owned utilities total well over $30 million.
Such a high level of debt suggests that repayment plans for delinquent customers may be a good approach. Many city-owned utilities already allow for something similar. Rep. Greg Gilday (R–Camano) has offered an amendment to the bill to include repayment plan provisions. However, its does not address what happens if the account holder fails to make a good faith effort to repay. To resolve the issue, AWC advocates that any repayment
option be void if the account holder misses a payment in the repayment plan. Rep. Gilday and Rep. Peterson (D–Edmonds), who chairs the committee, have committed to working with cities to address this and other concerns with the bill language.
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