With only a week left in session, there is still quite of bit of work for legislators to accomplish. This includes finishing major items like:
- Passing biennial operating, capital, and transportation budgets;
- Wrapping up work on policy bills;
- Passing a Blake decision response;
- Resolving issues around a capital gains and carbon tax; and
- Agreeing on a slim but remaining possibility of a grand bargain on a statewide transportation funding package.
Budget negotiations
We expect that budget negotiators will wrap up their work and we hope to see a final operating budget proposal as early as today, with final capital and transportation budgets following shortly. AWC will summarize the impact on cities and provide updates
to our budget matrix with budget highlights in our next issue of Bulletin.
A grand bargain on new transportation funding?
Last week we wrote about the “will they or won’t they” question of reaching a grand bargain on a statewide transportation package. As we enter the final week of session, such an agreement seems unlikely; nevertheless, work continues
on a carbon tax proposal. Even at this late stage, cities should continue talking to legislators about the importance of a statewide package that provides significant funding for city transportation needs, particularly preservation, maintenance, and
new projects.
Blake decision fallout
The State Supreme Court issued the Blake decision earlier this spring that declared existing drug possession statutes unconstitutional, which created significant fallout. Unanswered questions abound.
First is the question of how to address the issue of past convictions related to possession. This will create huge costs for superior courts, including the possibility of refunding fines and restitution paid by those whose convictions will now be voided.
There are further questions about how Washington should treat personal-use drug possession moving forward. Late last week, the Senate passed a bill that would make personal-use drug possession a misdemeanor, meaning those cases would fall to municipal
and district courts for adjudication. Cities need to remind legislators that we are not funded to take on the level of work entailed by the bill or to provide therapeutic options like drug courts, treatment programs, and diversion options. AWC will
ask the Legislature to provide the necessary funding if it goes ahead with that policy approach.
Final bill action
This week’s AWC bill Hot Sheet is the last one for the 2021 session. It highlights the latest status of bills that are important to cities.
Session recap
To find out more about how the session wraps up, make sure to register for and attend our Session wrap-up webinar on May 13.
Finally, we will produce one more session issue of AWC’s Legislative Bulletin next week. After that we go back to a monthly interim schedule. Our first interim Bulletin, our recap edition, will be published on May 24.