March 1, 2019
The Puget Sound Partnership's Legislative Update highlights issues related to our region's work to protect and recover Puget Sound.
The 2019 State Legislative session began January 14, 2019, and runs 105 consecutive days until April 28, 2019.
- Puget Sound Partnership Legislative Updates are posted on the Partnership's website.
- Find up-to-date legislative information online.
- Connect with the Puget Sound Partnership for breaking news and other events affecting Puget Sound on Twitter and Facebook.
If you have questions or concerns about the legislative priorities for the Puget Sound Partnership, please contact: Jeff Parsons, Legislative Policy Director, 360.999.3803 or jeff.parsons.@psp.wa.gov.
Today, Friday, March 1, is the deadline for passing policy bills out of fiscal committees in the house of origin, which means House bills must be passed by the House Appropriations, Capital budget, or Finance Committees and Senate bills must be passed by the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Budgets and matters necessary to implement budgets are exempt from deadlines. The fiscal committees are currently developing their own versions of operating and capital budgets, which aren’t expected to be released until after the next state revenue forecast comes out on March 20.
This is the session where the Legislature must adopt an operating budget for the 2019-2021 Fiscal Biennium, which begins July 1, 2019. They may also adopt a capital budget, but that is not mandatory. The Governor’s budget proposals automatically become the official agency position of the Puget Sound Partnership and all other cabinet agencies (those whose directors are appointed by and report to the Governor).
The Office of Financial Management (OFM) has stated that, although revenue collections are up by about $4.2 billion over those of the current biennium, all of that increase will be absorbed by increased costs, such as increased caseloads and the bow wave created by passage of the Educational Reform Package two years ago. That means all operating budget enhancements above maintenance level ($50 billion) will require passage of revenue enhancement legislation. The Governor is proposing to add about $3.7 billion through his revenue package (a capital gains tax, an increase in the B&O Tax on services, and a graduated Real Estate Excise Tax. Also, under the State Constitution, the size of the capital budget is dictated, in significant part, by the state’s bond capacity, which, in turn, is dictated by the average amount of general state revenue collections during the three previous years. In other words, the size of the capital budget would be increased by passage of general state revenue enhancements. The Governor’s revenue package would increase the state bond capacity by about $300 million
For more information about budget proposals, see the February 12 issue of the Legislative Update. We will send out new information as the proposals progress.
Strengthening Oil Transportation Safety
SB 5578/HB 1578 (Governor’s Request) - Reducing threats to Southern Resident orcas by improving the safety of oil transportation.
- Specifies tug escort requirements for oil tankers of a certain size.
- Requires tug escorts for certain sized oil tankers and articulated tug barges transited through Rosario Strait and connected waterways.
- Requires the Board of Pilotage Commissioners to adopt rules for tug escorts in Puget Sound.
- Authorizes the Department of Ecology (Ecology) to adopt rules for an emergency response towing vessel to be situated in the San Juan Islands area.
Status of SB 5578: The Senate Environment, Energy, & Technology Committee held a public hearing on SB 5578 and passed a substitute bill on February 7. This bill is now in Senate Ways & Means Committee.
Effect of changes made in Substitute SB 5578:
- Clarifies that tug escorts are not required for vessels providing bunkering or refueling services.
- Clarifies tribal representation for rulemaking and Salish Sea Share Waters Forum.
Status of HB 1578: The House Environment & Energy Committee passed a substitute on February 19. It is now in the House Appropriations Committee, which held an executive session on the bill on February 28.
Effect of changes made in Substitute HB 1578:
- Exempts vessels providing bunkering or refueling services from tug escort requirements adopted in statute or by rule.
- Clarifies that new tug escort requirements may only apply to oil tankers of between 5,000 and 40,000 deadweight tons.
- Clarifies that new tug escort requirements only apply to towed waterborne vessels or barges, with the exception of requirements applicable to oil tankers or articulated tug-barges.
- Requires Ecology to provide a synopsis of changing vessel traffic trends to the Legislature by September 1, 2020, and to consider that synopsis during tug escort rulemaking.
- Directs Ecology and the Board of Pilotage Commissioners to consult with potentially-affected federally recognized Indian tribes, rather than consulting with tribes with usual and accustomed fishing rights in areas subject to rulemaking.
- Expands the scope of tribal governments and other entities that Ecology is directed to partner with to discuss shared funding of an emergency response towing vessel.
Increasing Prey Abundance
SB 5580/HB 1579 (Governor’s Request) - Implementing recommendations of the Southern Resident Orca Task Force related to increasing Chinook salmon and forage fish abundance.
- Removes bass, channel catfish, and walleye from statutory classification as game fish.
- Requires a fishing license to fish for smelt.
- Directs the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to first seek voluntary compliance from a hydraulic project proponent if a violation of the hydraulic code has occurred or is about to occur.
- Authorizes the DFW to offer technical assistance to correct violations and to issue notices of correction, notices of violation, stop work orders, or notices to comply to hydraulic project proponents in cases of violations of the hydraulic code.
- Removes the requirement that the DFW issue permits with or without conditions for single-family residential bulkheads and rock walls.
- Authorizes the the DFW to apply for an administrative inspection warrant to inspect project sites to verify compliance, or if there is probable cause to believe a violation is occurring or has occurred.
- Increases civil penalty for hydraulic code violations from $100 per day per violation to $10,000 per violation.
- Authorizes the DFW to disapprove applications for up to one year, or until all penalties and notices are paid and complied with, for persons who have failed to comply with either a final stop work order or notice to comply, or failed to pay a civil penalty.
Status of HB 1579: The House Rural Development, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Committee passed a substitute on February 6. This bill is now in the House Appropriations Committee, where an executive session took place February 25.
Effect of Substitute HB 1579:
- Removes the provision declassifying bass, walleye, and channel catfish as "game fish”, and directs the DFW to adopt rules to ease bag limits for those species.
- Requires a license to fish for saltwater smelt instead of all smelt.
- Creates a hydraulic project pre-application that a person may file with the DFW to determine whether a project requires a complete application for a hydraulic project permit. The DFW must provide tribes and local governments a seven calendar day review and comment period for pre-applications. If the DFW determines that a complete application is required, the applicant would then be required to submit a “complete application” as defined in statute and the DFW would process the permitting decision.
- Provides that the new hydraulic code enforcement provisions do not apply to hydraulic projects that have received a forest practices hydraulic project permit from the Department of Natural Resources.
- Removes the provision declaring a violation of the hydraulic code to be a public nuisance.
Status of SB 5580: The Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources, & Parks Committee held a public hearing on SB 5580 on February 5. No further action has been taken.
Vessel noise and disturbance
SB 5577/HB 1580 (Governor’s Request) - Concerning the protection of Southern Resident orcas from disturbance by vessels.
- Increases distance within which a vessel or other object may not approach Southern Resident orcas.
- Provides additional temporary approach limits for commercial whale watching vessels, and requires the DFW to report on the effectiveness of the approach limits.
- Establishes a limited-entry commercial whale watching license, sets fees for the license, and requires the DFW to report on the license program.
Status of SB 5577: Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources, & Parks Committee passed a substitute on February 21. It is now in Senate Ways & Means Committee, which held and executive session on the bill on February 28.
Effect of substitute SB 5577:
- Changes the distance within which it is unlawful to approach or to fail to disengage the transmission of a vessel to 300 yards of a Southern Resident orca and specifies that it is unlawful to position a vessel within 400 yards behind a Southern Resident orca.
- Deletes the provision establishing a temporary 650 yard approach limit for commercial Southern Resident orca whale watching vessels.
- Provides that the commercial whale watching license is not a limited-entry license and changes the license fees.
- Creates an alternate operator license for a designated alternate operator to operate a commercial whale watching vessel.
- Specifies that commercial whale watching without a permit, or violating department rules regarding commercial whale watching, is a misdemeanor.
- Requires the DFW to establish rules to implement the commercial whale watching license program that are designed to reduce the daily and cumulative impacts to Southern Resident orcas and requires the DFW to involve the public, industry, and other interested parties in any rulemaking process.
- Requires the DFW to convene an independent science panel to review the most current and best available science regarding impacts to Southern Resident orcas by small vessels and commercial whale watching vessels.
- Adds sustainable whale watching to the topics required that the statewide tourism marketing plan must cover.
Status of HB 1580: The House Rural Development, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Committee passed a substitute February 20. It is in House Appropriations Committee, which heard the bill on February 26.
Effect of Substitute HB 1580:
- Changes the distance within which it is unlawful to approach or to fail to disengage the transmission of a vessel from 200 yards to 300 yards of a Southern Resident orca whale and specifies that it is unlawful to position a vessel within 400 yards behind a Southern Resident orca.
- Deletes temporary 650 yard approach limit for commercial Southern Resident orca whale watching vessels.
-
Provides that the commercial whale watching license is not a limited-entry license, maintains the $75 application fee, and changes the license fees as follows:
- The annual commercial whale watching license fee is $200, plus annual fees for designating motorized or sailing vessels, and for kayaks.
- The annual fees per motorized and sailing vessel are based on the number of passengers per vessel, on a similar schedule as in the underlying bill.
- The annual fees for designating kayaks are based on the number of kayaks.
- Creates an alternate operator license, with an annual fee of $200, for a designated alternate operator to operate a motorized or sailing commercial whale watching vessel.
- Specifies that commercial whale watching without a permit, or violating the DFW rules regarding commercial whale watching, is a misdemeanor, and doing so within one year of the date of a prior conviction is a gross misdemeanor.
- Requires the DFW to establish rules to implement the commercial whale watching license program that are designed to reduce the daily and cumulative impacts to Southern Resident orcas.
- Authorizes, instead of requires, the DFW to consider the use of an automatic identification system for monitoring and compliance.
- Requires the DFW to involve the public, industry, and other interested parties in any rulemaking process.
- Adds whale watching rules and approach distance regulations to the items the DFW must analyze and report on to the Governor and the Legislature.
- Requires the DFW to convene an independent science panel, before January 1, 2021, to review the most current and best available science regarding impacts to Southern Resident orcas by small vessels and commercial whale watching vessels. The DFW must use the review in the rulemaking process and to adaptively manage the commercial whale watching program.
- Adds sustainable whale watching to the topics required the statewide tourism marketing plan.
Toxic Pollution Prevention
HB 1194/SB 5135 - Preventing toxic pollution that affects public health or the environment.
- Requires Ecology to identify priority chemicals and priority consumer products.
- Authorizes Ecology to make regulatory determinations regarding priority chemicals.
- Requires Ecology to identify priority chemicals, priority consumer products, and make regulatory determinations every five years.
Status of HB 1194: House Environment & Energy passed a substitute bill and it has been referred to House Appropriations Committee.
Effect of Substitute HB 1194:
- Requires Ecology to consult with the Department of Health (DOH) when: (1) designating priority chemicals; (2) designating priority consumer products containing priority chemicals; and (3) making regulatory determinations on priority consumer products containing priority chemicals;
- Requires Ecology to provide the public with an opportunity for review and comment on regulatory determinations, rather than comment of regulatory determinations;
- Prohibits Ecology from designating the following as priority consumer products: (1) finished products regulated or certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or by the Department of Defense (DOD), when used in a manner subject to regulation or certification by the FAA or the DOD; (2) parts, materials, and processes when used to manufacture or maintain finished products regulated by the FAA or the DOD; and (3) motorized vehicles; and
- Requires Ecology to notify the public of the peer-reviewed science and other sources of information that it relied upon in selecting priority chemicals and priority consumer products, in addition to Ecology’s basis for selecting those chemicals and products.
Status of SB 5135: The Senate Environment, Energy, & Technology Committee passed a substitute bill; the bill was referred to Senate Ways & Means Committee, where it was heard February 25 and had an executive session on February 26.
Effect of Substitute SB 5135:
- Prohibits Ecology from designating as priority consumer products FAA or DOD regulated or certified finished products, parts, materials, and processes when used to manufacture or maintain FAA or DOD finished products, and motorized vehicles.
- Requires Ecology to consult with the DOH when designating priority chemicals and products and when making regulatory determinations.
- Requires Ecology to provide opportunity for review as well as comment on regulatory determinations.
-
Requires Ecology to notify the public of the peer-review science and other sources of information relied upon in selecting priority chemicals and products.
Fish Passage Barrier Removal
HB 1228/SB 5130 (OFM request) – Increasing transportation revenues to help fund state fish barrier removal.
- Imposes a graduated Real Estate Excise Tax beginning July 1, 2019.
- Moves up the effective date of certain vehicle weight fees.
Status: The Senate Transportation Committee had a public hearing on SB 5130 on February 6. No action has been taken on HB 1228 and the bill remains in the House Finance Committee.
HB 1691 - Concerning funding and administering local government infrastructure by the public works board.
- Specifies that public works projects may include natural or green infrastructure.
- Allows up to one percent of the biennial capital budget appropriation for the Public Works Board to be for value planning grants.
- Ends deposit of Refuse Tax into Education Legacy Trust Account June 30, 2019, instead of June 30, 2023.
- Prioritizes the Refuse Tax that is deposited into the Public Works Assistance Account, from fiscal year 2020 through fiscal year 2030, for grants to address fish barriers.
Status: House Capital Budget Committee passed a substitute on February 26.
HB 1889/SB 5136 - Establishing the water infrastructure program.
- Establishes a competitive water infrastructure grant program for projects that promote increasing the availability of water for out-of-stream uses, reducing the risk of flooding, improving fish passage, or reducing stormwater pollution from existing development.
- Requires the Office of Columbia River, the Office of Chehalis Basin, the Fish Barrier Removal Board, and Ecology to review applications based on specified criteria.
- Establishes three appropriated accounts for the Water Infrastructure Program.
- Expresses legislative intent to provide $500 million per biennium to the Water Infrastructure Program.
Status: The House Capital Budget Committee had a public hearing on HB 1889 February 21. Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources, & Parks Committee had a public hearing on SB 5136 January 29.
HB 2022 - Providing funding options to local governments for addressing fish passage barrier removals.
- Creates the Local Barrier Partnership Account and corresponding competitive grant program to fund the public portion of certain public-private fish passage barrier removal projects.
Status: House Rural Development, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Committee passed this bill February 26.
Environmental Justice
SB 5489 - Establishing a healthy environment for all by addressing environmental health disparities. Also known as “Healthy Environment for All” (Note: HB 2009 was introduced in substantially the same form as the substitute version of SB 5489).
- Creates a task force to recommend various strategies for incorporating environmental justice principles into how specified agencies discharge their responsibilities.
- Requires certain state agencies to conduct a cumulative impact analysis to identify highly impacted communities.
- Requires Ecology to engage in rulemaking to implement task force recommendations.
Status of SB 5489: Sen. Environment, Energy & Technology passed a substitute. It is now in Senate Ways & Means Committee, where it was heard on February 27.
Effect of Substitute SB 5489:
- Removes requirement that state agencies adopt rules as recommended by the task force.
- Removes the requirement that the task force reconvene five years after state agencies adopt rules.
- Requires state agencies to adopt the cumulative impact analysis for the purposes of identifying highly impacted communities.
- Provides that the task force provide guidance to agencies, the Legislature, and the Governor regarding how to use the cumulative impact analysis and designating highly impacted communities.
- Requires the DOH to initiate a process to develop model policies for implementing task force recommendations.
- Requires state agencies to submit a report on progress made towards reducing environmental burdens and attaining environmental health targets.
Status of HB 2009: House State Government & Tribal Relations passed this bill without amendments and it was referred to House Appropriations Committee.
|
