Prepared by:Coyne, Jesernig, LLC / Thursday, March 9, 2017
The legislature moved past the last major milestone for the first half of the 2017 Session, the "House of Origin" cutoff deadline, on Wednesday, March 8th. Except for measures designated as "Necessary to Implement the Budget", all House bills that have not been passed by the House, or Senate bills that have not been passed by the Senate, are "dead" for the remainder of this Session. After the legislature hits this cutoff deadline, roughly 75% of the measures introduced this year are done.
House Policy Committees started working today on Senate bills, and Senate Policy Committees did the same on House bills. This activity will continue through Wednesday, March 29th, which is when the "Opposite Chamber – Policy Committee" cutoff deadline will kill any House bills that have not moved out of the original Senate committee they were referred to, and the same will happen to any Senate bills that have not moved out of the House committee they were referred to.
While the Policy Committees are busy working on Opposite Chamber bills, the unofficial "kickoff" of the budget writing part of the 2017 Session will occur next Thursday, March 16th, when the Revenue Forecast Council releases its estimate of the 2017 – 19 revenue that will be brought in by the State of Washington. That number will form the basis of the upcoming House and Senate Operating and Capital Budgets. At this time, most experts are expecting next week's forecast to add another $300M to the 2017 – 19 Forecast, which will bring it to roughly $3B more revenue than the 2015 – 17 biennium.
Unfortunately, that unofficial "kickoff" is likely to lead to a protected stalemate between the House and Senate, rather than any fruitful negotiations. The House has repeatedly stated that it will pass its Operating Budget without the tax increases necessary to fund it, and expects the Senate to negotiate with them on that higher amount. The Senate has repeatedly stated that it will not even negotiate with the House unless it passes the tax increases necessary to fund the budget that they enact. Obviously, if there are no negotiations, it's going to be pretty tough to come up with a compromise Operating Budget that the legislature can send down to Gov. Inslee for his signature.
Doubly unfortunate is the fact a stalemate is in the process of developing between the House, Senate, and Gov. Inslee on the Capital Budget. All three entities know that local school bond levies have passed at an unprecedented amount, which will require another $500M in state match money in the 2017 – 19 Capital Budget. Accordingly, unless these three entities can come up with the way to expand the capacity of the Capital Budget by the $500M in additional cost-share that will be driven out to local school districts, the Capital Budget will not be able to fund many of the projects supported by House and Senate Democrats and Republicans.
At this time Gov. Inslee believes that additional capacity should be produced by a new Carbon Tax, a proposal not supported by the House or Senate. The House would like to bond the revenue stream from the State Lottery, a proposal not supported by Gov. Inslee or the Senate. And the only proposal that seems to be somewhat supported in the Senate, a one-time $500M "raid" of the Rainy Day Fund, is not supported by Gov. Inslee or the House. Accordingly, the Capital Budget, a budget that usually garners broad bipartisan support, seems to be slipping into the same somewhat intractable stalemate that the Operating Budget has found itself in.
Everyone will have a much clearer picture of how protected the stalemate might be after the House and Senate start releasing their Operating and Capital Budgets. At this time, most budget writers are targeting the week of March 20th as the week they will release their budgets, but that tentative goal always seems to have a way of slipping into the following week.
Since the legislature is scheduled to adjourn on Sunday, April 23rd, negotiators will have a little over a month to negotiate final compromise budgets before adjourning for the Regular Session. If no negotiations actually occur, it's going to be pretty tough for them to make that goal, which is likely to lead to one or more Special Sessions before Operating and Capital Budgets are actually enacted. If a compromise budget is not passed by the legislature, and signed by the Governor, by July 1st, roughly half of state government runs out of money.
Ron Schultz with the Conservation Commission, and Laura Heise and Jennifer Boie with the Palouse Conservation District, did an excellent job explaining the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (Ron), and the Palouse Watershed RCPP (Laura and Jennifer), to the Senate Agriculture, Water, Trade & Economic Development Committee today. Committee members seemed very interested in these presentations, which can hopefully translate into Capital Budget support as the 2017 session wears on. Ron then finished the Committee Work Session by updating the Committee on the Voluntary Stewardship Program. Since the other two items on the Work Session agenda were 2 very contentious issues, (dam breaching on the Snake River and the North American Free Trade Agreement), I think everyone appreciated the positive message brought to them by Ron, Laura and Jennifer. Good job everyone!
Two measures that WACD has been supporting, HB 1594 (a bill that would improve public records administration), and HB 1595 (the bill that would allow government entities to recover more of the costs associated with responding to public disclosure requests), were both passed out of the House last Friday with strong bipartisan support. HB 1594 passed 79 – 18, and HB 1595 passed by a 75 – 22 vote. Though everyone understands that neither of these measures will "fix" the abuses inherent in the existing system, they are both seen as reasonable steps towards some modest reforms. Both of these measures will receive a Public Hearing in front of the Senate State Government Committee next Wednesday, March 15th.
Bill Tracking SummaryHigh Priority Bills / Sponsor / Position / Status
1067 / Making 2017-2019 fiscal biennium operating appropriations. / Ormsby / Monitor / H, Approps
1068 / Making 2017 supplemental operating appropriations. / Ormsby / Monitor / H, Approps
ES1594 / Improving public records administration. (AS OF HOUSE 2ND READING 3/03/17) / McBride / Support / S, State Governme
E1595 / Concerning costs associated with responding to public records requests. / Nealey / Support / S, State Governmen
S1694 / Providing state funding assistance for public school construction. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / MacEwen / Support / H, Approps
5047 / Making 2017 supplemental operating appropriations. / Braun / Monitor / S, Ways & Means
5048 / Making 2017-2019 fiscal biennium operating appropriations. / Braun / Monitor / S, Ways & Means
5086 / Concerning the capital budget. / Honeyford / Monitor / S, Ways & Means
5087 / Concerning the evaluation and prioritization of capital budget projects at the public two-year and four-year institutions of higher education. / Honeyford / Monitor / H, Cap Budget
5088 / Concerning the financing of local infrastructure. / Honeyford / Monitor / S, Ways & Means
5090 / Concerning state general obligation bonds and related accounts. / Honeyford / Monitor / S, Ways & Means
ES5263 / Concerning the procurement of seeds by state agencies. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Warnick / Monitor / H, Ag & Nat Res
Medium Priority Bills
1075 / Concerning the capital budget. / Tharinger / Monitor / H, Cap Budget
1080 / Concerning state general obligation bonds and related accounts. / Tharinger / Monitor / H, Cap Budget
S1086 / Promoting the completion of environmental impact statements within two years. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Blake / Monitor / S, Energy, Environ
S1275 / Including fish passage barrier removal projects that comply with the forest practices rules in the streamlined permit process provided in RCW 77.55.181. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Blake / Support / S, Natural Resourc
S1417 / Concerning the harmonization of the open public meetings act with the public records act in relation to information technology security matters. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Hudgins / Monitor / S, State Governmen
S1429 / Concerning aquatic invasive species management. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Chandler / Monitor / H, Approps
ES1531 / Concerning the forest riparian easement program. (AS OF HOUSE 2ND READING 3/02/17) / Chapman / Monitor / S, Natural Resourc
E2S1562 / Continuing the work of the Washington food policy forum. (AS OF HOUSE 2ND READING 3/07/17) / Gregerson / Monitor / S, Ag/Water/Trade&
1613 / Making expenditures from the budget stabilization account for 2015 wildfires. / Dent / Monitor / H, Approps
1677 / Concerning local government infrastructure funding. / Peterson / Monitor / H, Cap Budget
E2S1711 / Prioritizing lands to receive forest health treatments. (AS OF HOUSE 2ND READING 3/06/17) / Kretz / Monitor / S, Natural Resour
S1820 / Concerning the maintenance and operations of parks and recreational land acquired through the conservation futures program. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Volz / Monitor / S, Natural Resourc
E1924 / Concerning small forest landowners. (AS OF HOUSE 2ND READING 3/02/17) / Dent / Support / S, Com/Labor/Sport
ES2126 / Creating a community-based approach to provide assistance with nonlethal management methods to reduce livestock depredations by wolves. (AS OF HOUSE 2ND READING 3/06/17) / Blake / Monitor / S, Natural Resourc
5010 / Promoting water conservation by protecting certain water rights from relinquishment. / Warnick / Monitor / H, Ag & Nat Res
S5051 / Concerning nondefault or early termination provisions in state land leases for agricultural or grazing purposes. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Brown / Monitor / H, Ag & Nat Res
S5196 / Including cattle feedlots implementing best management practices within the statutory exemption for odor or fugitive dust caused by agricultural activity. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Warnick / Support / H, Environment
2S5285 / Conducting a workforce study of employment opportunities in the agriculture, environment, and natural resources economic sectors intended to provide educators with the information needed for informing students about employment opportunities in the studied fields. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Wilson / Support / H, Hi Ed
ES5393 / Including fish passage barrier removal projects that comply with the forest practices rules in the streamlined permit process provided in RCW 77.55.181. (AS OF SENATE 2ND READING 2/28/17) / Warnick / Monitor / H, Ag & Nat Res
S5394 / Concerning the forest riparian easement program. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Rivers / Monitor / H, Ag & Nat Res
2S5546 / Concerning proactively addressing wildfire risk by creating a forest health treatment assessment. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Hawkins / Support / H, Ag & Nat Res
5754 / Concerning the management of noxious weeds on state lands. / Short / Monitor / H, Ag & Nat Res
ES5808 / Concerning agritourism. / Warnick / Monitor / S, Passed 3rd
Low Priority Bills
1132 / Concerning dispute resolution between seed buyers and dealers. / Buys / Monitor / S, Ag/Water/Trade&
1324 / Concerning the financing of local infrastructure. / Tharinger / Monitor / H, Cap Budget
ES1489 / Concerning private wildland fire suppression contractors. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Kretz / Monitor / S, Natural Resour
5066 / Concerning state budgeting through zero-based budget reviews. / Miloscia / Monitor / H, Approps
ES5431 / Concerning the protection of composting from nuisance lawsuits. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Warnick / Monitor / H, Ag & Nat Res
5543 / Concerning a reexamination of the classification of land in flood control districts. / Padden / Monitor / S, Passed 3rd
Dead Bills
1009 / Clarifying that the authority to mitigate environmental impacts under the state environmental policy act applies only to significant adverse environmental impacts. / Shea / Monitor / H, Environment
1050 / Concerning the financing of Chehalis basin flood damage reduction and habitat restoration projects. / DeBolt / Monitor / H, Rules R
1074 / Creating the community wildfire protection assessment. / Lytton / Monitor / H, Approps
1207 / Requiring agreements between state agencies and the federal government to be reported to the legislature. / Young / Monitor / H, Approps
1348 / Concerning the priority in the state water code assigned to various beneficial uses. / Taylor / Monitor / H, Ag & Nat Res
1382 / Establishing a rebuttable presumption that permit-exempt groundwater withdrawals do not impair instream flows or base flows. / Shea / Monitor / H, Ag & Nat Res
S1404 / Conducting a workforce study of employment opportunities in the agriculture, environment, and natural resources economic sectors intended to provide educators with the information needed for informing students about employment opportunities in the studied fields. (DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE) / Tarleton / Support / H, Approps